Solace
by Demon Spartan
Summary: Remake of 'DAT'. Taken from my world, thrown threw several others before being dropped ass backwards into the ME universe. Teaming up with the best of the best, I'll throw a wrench into the Reapers' plans and help Shepard stop them once and for all. But shit like this has a nasty habit of blowing up in your face. Where the hell is an instruction manuel when you need one? Tali/OC
1. One Hell of a Trip

**A/N: I'm guessing you guys thought I dropped off the face of the Earth huh? Well to be honest I'm just taking the fics I got and upgrading them, giving them more detail, better backgrounds, and making them more entertaining for you guys. **

**Demon's back folks!**

**Many of you probably remember this fic as 'DAT: Dimensional Assault Team'. I took it down for the sole purpose to make it a little better. After playing Mass Effect 3, Modern Warfare 3, and a barrage of other games I figured it'd be worth it. **

**Either way, let't get this shit started.**

**(I own nothing)**

_**Have you ever thought that you were destined for something bigger than what you ever thought possible? To be honest such a thought was farther from my mind than the Earth was from the Sun. But like life itself, things can change in the blink of an eye. Washing you away in the sea of destiny.**_

_**The only thing you can do is fight with all of your strength...and pray you don't drown in the tides.**_

_**My journey started with a bang. It's only fitting that it go out with one too.**_

X

My vision slowly swam into focus as I let out a low groan as I started to come back to conciousness. "Prophet...where the hell are we?" I asked trying to get to my feet. _**"Location...unknown. Suit System rebooting."**_Spoke the sentient AI in the suit.

I slowly started to get back on my feet as the suit's systems came back online. The Nano suit really was all that Crysis made it out to be. Using it in real life was one hell of a thrill ride.

The name's Xero, and before you ask no it's not my real name. My life up to this point to anyone could consider one hell of an acid trip. But I'll give you a quick rundown.

I'm from what many would call the 'real world', that was before I died. I was involved in a car accident on my way back to college. When I woke up I found myself in the middle of an obliterated town . Turns out that I was shot into the Halo universe. Using quick thinking, I managed to get out of trouble and somehow wound up in the Spartan III program where I became the hyper lethal Spartan, Noble Six.

When I arrived on Reach, I fought along side the rest of Noble to fight off the Covenant invasion that ravaged the planet.

With my knowledge, I was able to help to a great extent. I even managed to keep Kat and Emile alive to the very end. Just when we were about to be overrun by the Covenant after the _Pillar of Autumn_ took off, everything just exploded in a blind light.

When the three of us woke up, we were in a destroyed New York City, with me inside Nano Suit 2.0. After re-reading Prophet's message, I had to come clean to Kat and Emile about where I was from. After Emile nearly beat me to death about not giving them an early warning. The three of us fought the Ceph and helped take back the city.

After I had destroyed the Ceph's main pilon with the suit, I was thrown off of the levitated part of Central Park and into the ground like a missile. It took two hours before the rest of Noble found me, the Suit just barely starting to regenerate itself.

Before we knew it, we were encased in light again and found ourselves in another dimension where we picked up a few more travelers...and here we are now.

X

A groan to my left caught my attention. Moving to the sound, I found Kat laying facedown buried under a couple of metal crates. Grabbing onto her cybernetic arm, I helped her to her feet. "You alright Kat?" I asked. She dusted herself off, "Fine. Where are the others?" she asked in her Iranian-American accent. "Right here Kat." said Emile coming out of a nearby alley.

"We're still short three more." I said to them. "Right here mate." "Bloody hell, that was a messed up trip." I turned to a nearby staircase where our two other 'squadmates' joined us. Captain John 'Soap' MacTavish, Captain John Price, and Yuri. That's right folks, me and my fellow Spartans went through the Modern Warfare dimension. We had managed to save Soap's life and helped them put an end to Makarov's plans.

Unlike the rest of us, the three operatives weren't wearing armor. Mine being the most advanced out of all of them. It kinda gave me regrets.

"Where the hell are we comrads?" asked Yuri as we all looked around. "Seems to be a space station of some kind. Looks like a dump though." said Emile. I looked at a nearby doorway and headed for it. I brought up the M9 pistol I picked up from the last dimension and opened it.

The sight before me made me pause.

Behind the door, was a Krogan and three Vorcha. "Move it! Unless you want to face my wrath." said the Krogan glaring into my red visor. The nano suit gave me quite a bit of height, I was nearly towering over the alien.

Without pause, I lashed out striking the Krogan on the side of the head sending him crashing into a crate. Before the Vorcha could react I shot two in the head and snapped the last one's neck all in the span of four seconds.

I looked over at the downed Krogan and saw him surrounded by Soap, Emile, Yuri and Price. I walked over and grabbed the alien by the front of it's armor. "Now what were you saying about wrath?" I asked getting into his face. "Heh, tougher than I took you for." said the Krogan.

"Mind telling me where we are and what the date is?" I asked casually. The Krogan gave me a dumb expression. "Are you fucking stupid or something?" The knife built into the right wrist of my suit came out, and I could hear the others cock their weapons behind me. "Your on Omega. And it's 2183." I gave a nod before quickly slashing his throat and tossed the body aside.

"Omega? 2183? Just where in the hell are we?" asked Soap. I sighed, taking off my helmet exposing my shaved head and blood red eyes. "Have a seat, this'll take a while to explain."

While Emile and Kat stood guard, I explained to the three soldeirs what I knew and where the rest of Noble came from. "You've gotta be shitting me." said Soap. "Look around. Does it look like I'm shitting you?" I asked sarcastically.

"He's gotta point Soap. The real question is what do we all do from here?" asked Price. "Da, bring in the distant future where everything has changed gives us a bit of trouble." said Yuri.

"Xero, you mind telling us where we are? You seem to know this place." said Emile. "Were in another dimension called Mass Effect. And let me tell you, a lot of shits going to go down soon." I said getting up. "I'll explain more about this universe later. Right now we need to get supplies, weapons, and a ship."

"Where do we get all of that?" asked Soap holding up his silenced M4. "I know someone. Just try not to shoot any aliens unless they attack you first." I said slipping my helmet back on.

X

The trip to Afterlife was a tense one. I could feel Emile and Kat tense up whenever we passed an alien. Soap, Yuri and Price gripped their weapons waiting for an attack, but couldn't help but look in awe at all the shit around us.

I didn't know how I got elected leader. But after I had to help my fellow Spartans through the Crysis dimension I don't think they had an issue with me leading.

We walked up to the door to the club and stepped inside, the loud music hitting us as we walked in. "So what now?" asked Emile over the music. I motioned to the balcony, "The one who runs this place is up there. Just follow my lead." I said as we got closer.

Stepping up to the Turian guard he mearly motioned his head up the stairs allowing us up. When we reached the landing. The Queen of Omega stood with her back to us. "That's far enough." she said calmly. I paused, the others right behind me.

She turned and regarded all of us, "Interesting group you've got here. Though I can't tell if you three are human like your friends." I reached up and removed my helmet, Kat followed, Emile opted to keep his on. "We all are. And I was hoping the great Aria could give us a hand." I said with a smirk.

Aria looked into my red eyes and chuckled, "And why would I help a group of Humans, who apparently fell assbackwards into my station." she said sitting on her couch. I walked up and sat on the one next to her. "Simple, we'll help you. You help us." The Asari leader raised an eyebrow. "What is it exactly that you need?"

"A small ship that can take us to the Citadel. And enough supplies to last the trip." I said leaning back. Aria looked from me, to the others. "You all look like you could cause some damage. Alright, I'll help you out. And I have a job that will make it all even."

A Batarian guard handed her a datapad which she handed to me. "There is an illegal shipment of weapons being brought in three hours from now. If you deal with the smugglers, I'll let you have any weapons you want from the shipment and the ship too. The supplies you'll have to get on your own."

"Deal." I said standing up and putting my helmet back on. "Good luck, though I doubt you'll need it." Aria said as we all headed back to the club.

"So, we do this for the squid woman and we'll get out of this galactic shitter?" asked Yuri. "Exactly. But with the weapon systems that are avaliable in this universe, your flak vests won't save you. We'll have to fix that." I said leading them to the markets.

X

After two hours, I managed to get ahold of three pairs of medium Onyx armor for Price, Soap and Yuri. Now we were all in strategic positions around the docking area where the ship was suppose to arrive. I looked up at the rafters where I could see Price with his sniper rifle leveled on a low beam.

Kat was with me with two pistols at the ready. Emile, Yuri and Soap were inside the warehouse ready for a close-quarters fight.

It was at this point I realized our weapon sitiuation. Save for Soap, Yuri and Price's weapons which were more from the world I was from. Me, Kat and Emile all had weapons from Crysis. I could only hope that the bullets worked on the armor and shielding systems.

_**"Proximity Alert. Arial Craft Approaching."**_ said Prophet inside my helmet. "Get ready guys." I said in my comm.

A small ship appeared and approached the docking area. After it was secured, a ramp lowered allowing a dozen men walking down moving large crates. _**"Accessing Memory...8 identifyed as Human. 4 identifyed as Turian. All lightly armed. Tactical Options Avaiable."**_ "Ready Kat?" I asked taking out my rifle. She gave a thumbs. I looked back to the smugglers, _**"Cloak Engaged."**_ I vanished into thin air only leaving a slight shimmer as I made my approach. Kat right behind moving from cover to cover.

After the last smuggler made it off the ship, I got inside and made a quick check before kneeling on the ramp still cloaked. "Alright guys. Lets get started." I heard loud cracks and saw two men go down. Before the others could respond I de-cloaked and emptied a whole clip into them.

The door to the warehouse blew open, Emile, Yuri and Soap lept out and opened fire with their weapons while Kat fired from her position. The whole fight took only 15 seconds.

With all of the smugglers dead, we began to go through the crates. "Damn, these guys got their hand's on some good hardware." said Price as he pulled an M8 Avenger assault rifle from a crate. Kat was looking over the bodies trying to find anything useful on them.

"So, that chick Aria gave us free reign on any weapons we want huh?" asked Emile as he hefted a Claymore shotgun. "Guess so." said Soap as he also looked over the weapons that were there.

"Xero, come take a look at this." said Kat. I walked over and saw that she was kneeling over a dead Human. She had pulled some kind of keycard out of his pocket which bore a diamond shaped symbol. "Cerberus...shit." I cursed. " "So I take it that this is bad." said Kat.

I looked at the others, "Gather up as many weapons and supplies as you can. We need to get outta here ASAP."

X

After we had gathered the weapons and supplies. Me and Kat took the time to search the whole ship and found several dozen bugs and tracking devices. After destroying them we were ready to go.

The ship, which was named _Cold Dusk_, was pretty spacious for just the six of them. A small CIC and mess hall, a cargo hold, a small medbay, and two personal quarters which could hold eight people each. It was perfect for us to make our getaway.

Kat was at the helm, piloting the pilfered ship out of Omega and out into space. I was in the cargo hold going over what we had gathered with Price. In all, we managed to gather enough food and other supplies to last us until we got to the Citadel, and we each had our own weapon kits.

I walked away with a M76 Revenant rifle, A Carnifex handcannon, a Mantis sniper rifle and an Eviserator shotgun. Kat had chosen just a Predator heavy pistol and a Locust SMG. Soap went with a Scimitar shotgun, M8 assault rifle, and a Predator pistol. Price had a Viper sniper rifle, a M96 Mattock rifle, and a Predator pistol. Yuri went with an M15 Vindicator battle rifle, a Scimitar shotgun and a Carnifex handcannonm. And lastly Emile, who had a Claymore shotgun, an M96 Mattock rifle and a Carnifex handcannon.

It was an impressive stockpile, and with the two crates full of heat sinks we were in pretty good shape.

"You know you, Soap and Yuri are adapting to the whole interdimensional travel thing well." I said to Price as we headed for the bridge. "Make do with what you have mate. Besides, me and the boys would have been labled war criminals back in our universe anyway. At least we might be able to do some good here." said the Captain.

They arrived on the bridge where everyone else was sitting around. "Now that we're all here. You mind filling us in on this universe Xero?" said Emile. I sighed, and removed my helmet and started from the beginning. I told them about the Mass Effect universe and all of the species that resided in the universe.

I told them about the Protheans, and their destruction from the Reapers. I also gave them a play by play of both Mass Effect games and the critical missions involved in each one. Everyone sat in silence as they listened to my every word, when I was finished Soap broke the ice.

"I don't think our training covered ancient machines capable of intergalactic extinction." "Be that as it may, were stuck here. So we might as well help where we can." said Price. "Agreed, so we head to the Citadel and find Commander Shepard." I said to them.

"Uh, guys?" We all looked out the main viewport and saw that we were approaching a mass relay. "It's all good Kat." I said taking the seat next to her and putting in the coordinates for Citadel space. "How does this work Xero? I can fly a carrier through slipspace, but I'm not sure about this."

We pulled up along side of the relay, and energy beam grabbing our ship as the console infront of me and Kat lit up. "You guys may wanna hold onto something." I said just as the ship was slingshotted through space.

X

Three days had passed since we first arrived in this dimension. And things had worked out pretty well. Soap, Price and Yuri got along well with me and the other Spartans. More often then naught I saw Emile swaping war stories with Price.

I was woken up when I heard Kat over the intercom. _"Hay Xero. I just picked up a distress signal from a planet about an hour away from us."_ Getting up, I looked over at the corner where the pieces of the nano suit laid. To be honest, I had been inside the thing for so long it felt like a second skin. But even with the suit off, I could still feel the nanites from the Ceph inside my body.

After pulling on a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans, I walked out of the quarters I shared with Emile and headed to the bridge. Once I arrived, I saw Soap in a chair by a terminal asleep. "You paged?" I asked walking up behind Kat.

"I picked up a signal from a distress beacon from some planet. It's about an hour out of our way." I thought for a minute. "Then we'll swing by and help." Kat nodded, "Alright." I looked back at my fellow Spartan. "Kat? You okay?" She paused before looking up at me, "It's a lot to take in. Everything we went through up to this point. Why didn't you tell us about everything?"

I sighed, "Even if I tried, It wouldn't had been enough to save Reach. I tried my hardest to change events where I could." "What did you change?" asked Kat. I began to walk away. "You, and Emile were suppose to die." I walked out of the bridge, but I knew there was a shocked look on Kat's face.

X

We had arrived at the planet where Kat picked up the signal. It wasn't anything impressive, considering that it resembled a desert. Price, Emile and Yuri were with me as we got off the ship and headed toward the signal. "So what are we looking for?" asked Price adjusting his hat when a gust picked up. "Something that looks in distress." Emile said with a chuckle.

"Smartass." the Captain muttered. We started to treck through the jagged foot hills, keeping a close eye out for anything out of the ordinary. "How you holding up Price?" I asked as we made it to the top of the ridge. The Captain took his hat off and wipped his forhead. "Been on a lot of missions. But being on a completely different planet is definately something different."

"It is definately a change of pace from old missions." said Yuri as he mounted over a cluster of rocks as we reached the top of the hills.

Emile looked out over the landscape when he bumped my arm. "Down there." I looked to where he was pointing. _**"Vision Enhanced."**_ Through the magnified vision, I caught sight of a large cluster of robots firing on a small shuttle. "Geth." I said returning my vision to normal.

"Those synthetic things built by the Quarians? What the hell are they doing out here?" asked Yuri. "Doesn't matter why their out here. What matters is the poor bastard they got pinned down by that ship." said Price looking through his sniper scope.

I looked at what we were up against. "Prophet, tactical options." The area infront of me lit up and was outlined. All of the Geth were highlighted red, and the shuttle they were attacking was green. "Alright, we got mostly Troopers and a Juggernaut. Shit, this looks easy." I said grinning.

"So what's the plan?" asked Emile. I drew my assault rifle, "We take them out."

X

The Geth closed in on their target, but the last thing they expected were four hardened soldiers dropping into their midst and dealing death bullet by bullet.

Emile fired his Claymore which reduced any Geth infront of him to instant scrap metal. His armor and enhanced strength made sure that the heavy shotgun didn't cause any bodily harm. Price and Yuri were firing accurate shots with their rifles, striking each Geth right in the optic before they could fire a shot at them.

The Juggernaut charged us, but I sprang forward at enhanced speed and stopped it dead when I slammed into it. The large Geth got up and charged it's main weapon, _**"Maximum Armor."**_ the weapon fired, but the enhanced nano suit absorbed the shot and took little damage. Whipping out my shotgun, I slammed it into the Juggernaut's chest and fired. The shredding round blew a large hole in the back of the Geth, dropping it to the ground dead.

"Well...that really was easy." said Price injecting another heatsink into his rifle. "We got lucky, it's a good thing the bastards didn't have reinforcements." I said while heading to the shuttle.

The thing was banged up pretty bad. Whatever landed their the Geth really wanted dead. I searched through the shuttle's wreckage and found nothing but spent heatsinks. I was about to head to the cockpit when I heard a groan on the other side of the shuttle.

Leaping out the hatch, I jogged to the other side and saw a form crumpled on the ground. "I found a survivor!" I called out kneeling down to their level.

It was then that I got a good look at the one the Geth were after. A Quarian. A female Quarian...with a familiar purple visor.

"Tali..." I breathed. The others joined me as I patched up her wounds and the suit tears she had. "Prophet, what's her status?" The AI scanned Tali's body and gave me a rundown. _**"Fever of 107.4 degrees. Slight blood loss. Severe exhaustion. Chances of survival without medical treament...64.3%"**_ "Not good enough." I said picking up her small form in my arms. "We need to get her back to the ship. Kat, have the medbay preped. We have a wounded guest coming in."

**A/N: If you think adding Yuri is the only thing that I'm doing than you'd be sorely mistaken. I'm just getting started.**

**I also know all about the 'Witch-Hunt' against the so called MA-rated fics. I'm telling you guys that I've been doing what I can in the fight to show the guys running this site that just because a story is a little graphic doesn't give them a right to shit on our 1st Amendment rights as Authors! They made this site for people like us to express our selves and make our favorite Games, Books, Movies, etc. And making them the way we want them to go.**

**This site says in bold print "Unleash Your Imagination", To say that and take down thousands of storys because they are considered 'upsetting for some' is fucking wrong. And I'm backing anyone and everyone fighting this 110%! **

**This is Demon Spartan, And I don't back down from any fight!**


	2. A League of our Own

**A/N: I guess I should have mentioned that there are going to be spoilers for a few games in this fic. But knowing many of you guys who read my work you know how I operate. And to further clear the air this is my attempt at a Self-Insert. I've worked at so many OC stories that I finally decided to put myself into one. And I know that there are thousands of these out there, but hay, sometimes the best stories out there involve the author themselves am I right?**

**I own nothing**

_The building we were in was crumbling all around us. We all could hear the Covenant Phantoms outside searching_ for_ us. Carter had been talking with the others about what our next move was, but I wasn't listening. Knowing exactly what he was already saying._

_"Six, focus." said Kat elbowing me in the side. "Sorry, just focusing on shit around us." The bionic armed Spartan turned to me, "You should be focused on the mission. What would happen if-" Movement in my peripheral. "Get down!" I tackled Kat to the ground just as a focused needle round passed through my shields and pierced my shoulder._

_The others in Noble looked up and opened fire on the Phantom that was above us. Lifting my assault rifle with my only good arm, I let loose a barrage of rounds, taking out the Jackel with the needle rifle that was pirched on the outer platform. _

_Kat helped me to my feet and led me to the elevator with the others. "Thanks." she mumbled applying biofoam to my wound. "No problem." I said reloading my rifle._

_X_

_The scene changed. Now I was fighting on the street that was once broadway. Me, Kat and Emile were firing every round we had into a squad of Ceph who were trying to keep us away from a squad of marines that were pinned down a click away. _

_"We gotta heavy!" Shouted Emile as the large Ceph came at us firing it's chaingun. "Cover me!" I shouted to them. __**"Cloak Engaged."**__ I slipped past the Ceph ranks and got behind the heavy alien before emptying my whole weapon into a weak spot on it's back. _

_The large Ceph spun around and grabbed me in it's large clawed hand. "Fuck!" I shouted as it flung me into a wall. __**"Energy Depleated."**__ said Prophet. I looked up just as the Heavy Ceph slammed it's foot down on me and aimed it's weapon at my head. _

_Out of nowhere. Emile lept onto the thing's back, ramming his Kukri into it's neck spilling gel fluid everywhere. "Come on Motherfucker! Is that all you got!" he shouted as the large alien tried to dislodge him. _

_When my suit's energy returned I pulled my shotgun from off my back and rammed it into an open spot in the Ceph's armor. The following blast blew chunks of the creature's insides and armor out of it's back. _

_The glowing red eyes went dead, and the Ceph collapsed in a heap on the ground. _

_Emile pulled his knife out of the thing's neck and wiped the blade off on his forearm. "You owe me one Six. Just so you know." he said with a chuckle. I chuckled back as Kat joined us, "Come on guys. We got a city to save."_

_X_

_The scene changed again. I was now standing in a bright white room. A woman wearing a white and gold robe stood before me, a smile on her beautiful heartshaped face. "Your destiny awaits you." she said nearly in a whisper. _

_Everything exploded in a flash of light and a loud scream echoed out._

X

I bolted awake, heart pounding as reality sunk back in. "You alright?" I looked across the room at Kat who was sitting at a desk. "Yeah...yeah. Just weird dreams." I said running a hand over my scalp.

I had fallen asleep in the medbay roughly an hour after we saved Tali from the Geth. I opted to stay with her just incase she woke up. "Who's flying the ship?" I asked stretching out my arms. "Autopilot. Should take us right to the Citadel. Should be there in another six hours." said Kat as she resumed going through the terminal before her.

To be honest, I had never seen Kat in anything but her armor. To see her in a grey wife-beater and jeans was an odd sight. Especially since her cybernetic left arm was in clear view.

Looking away from my fellow Spartan, I watched the still sleeping form of Tali. After we had given her antibiotics to fight off the infection, we let her rest in order to fully recover from her injuries.

"Kinda makes you wonder why she was out there all alone." said Kat not even looking up from the terminal. "Pilgramige." I said honestly. Kat looked at me, "That whole right of passage thing all young Quarians do?" "Exactly. She's the one that finds the data that exposes Saren." Kat looked from me to Tali, "Then it's a good thing we found her."

We were both silent for a bit before Kat went back to work. "What are you doing anyway?" I asked standing up. "Searching the extranet for anything useful." she said going through links quickly. "Find anything?" I asked leaning over her chair. "Mostly garbage. A few pieces of data on the Citadel's lay out. Where we can pick up tech, weaponry and armor components. We'll have to upgrade our suits to better handle enemy firepower."

I couldn't really argue with the logic. Kat was a master at weapons, armor and tech. If she could make our gear better then that was good news.

She stood up and cracked her neck, "I'm heading to the mess. You coming?" I shook my head, "Nah, I'll stay." Kat looked from me, to Tali, then back again before leaving the room silently. I pulled my chair a little closer to the bed and sat back down. When she woke up and found that she was on a strange ship, she would need someone to explain what happened.

X Tali's POV X

Something felt...wrong. I was expecting death, instead I feel...comfotable. Opening my eyes I saw a ceiling above me. "It's good to see you awake." I sat up quickly and turned to the voice and saw someone sitting in a chair next to the bed I was on.

The sight of his red eyes made me nervious. But the gentle smile he wore calmed my nerves a little. "Where...am I?" "On a ship inbound for the Citadel. Me and my team found you and brought you back after dealing with the Geth." he replied standing up.

"Names Xero, by the way." he said extending his hand. "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." I replied shaking my hand with his. I tried to stand, but the moment my feet hit the floor I almost fell over. Xero snapped out and caught me with such quickness that I was startled.

He was huge! His form towered over me by a foot or more. And even with my envirosuit I could feel nothing but rock solid muscle under his shirt. I couldn't help the sudden heat that flushed my face. "Easy there. You haven't fully recovered yet. So try to take it easy for a little while."

He picked me up and laid me back onto the bed and pulled the covers over me. "Thank you, I don't know how I could possibly repay you." Xero waved his hand, "No problem. I like saving pretty girls in distress." I felt my face heat up again under my visor. "I've...never encountered someone so selfless outside the Flotilla." I said fighting my blush.

"People are idiots. Just because your people are doing what they can for survival doesn't give them the right to treat you all like they do." I noticed the hint of aggression in his voice, and I couldn't help but smile. Someone actually trusts my people. The look of anger disappeared and he smiled again, "If it's okay with you, would you mind telling me a little about your people?"

I was surprised nearly beyond words, "You...You want to know more about my people?" "Yeah. I like learning about different cultures and lifestyles. And besides, it'll help pass the time." he said sitting back down. I wrang my hands together, a habit I had whenever I was nervious. "Okay."

We talked for hours. Xero hung onto my everyword, asking a few questions here and there. In exchange, I asked a few questions of my own. He explained a little about himself, his likes and dislikes, even his tastes in music. Granted, I've never indulged in anything relating to Human culture. But it sounded interesting nontheless.

I started to feel comfortable around him. Dispite his red eyes, Xero was kind and gentle. Yet at the same time I could tell that he could easily crush anything that stood in his way. But dispite everything, the look in his red orbs spoke of something far more.

What I saw was someone who had seen far too much in his life. He hid it very well, but we Quarians knew how to tell everything about a person through their eyes and body language. What could have happened in his life for such things to be hidden just under the surface?

_"Xero, we're approaching the Citadel."_ spoked a woman's voice over the comm system. Xero looked at me, "You feeling better now?" I slowly got off the bed and actually felt stable this time. "Yes actually." He grinned, "Great. Then it's only proper that I introduce you to the others."

X Xero's POV X

After giving Tali a quick tour of the ship, I took her to the bridge where the others were waiting. "About time, haven't heard from you in a while mate." said Soap. He looked past me and saw Tali. "And I see our guest is awake. How ya feeling?" "Much better thank you." she replied.

"Tali this is the crew. The guy with the mohawk is Captain John MacTavish, we call him Soap." Soap gave a nod, Tali giggled. "Something funny about my name?" asked the former 141 agent. "It's just funny how your nickname is that of a cleaning material." said Tali.

Everyone started laughing after that, Soap just crossed his arms and glared. "Right then, the one in the hat is Captain Price." Price tilted his hat at her. "The one leaning on the terminal is Yuri." The ex-Spetznaz nodded at her. "The one in full armor with the skull is Emile. Don't worry, he's not as dangerous as he looks." "Xero's right, I'm worse." replied Emile as he flipped his Kukri around each of his fingers.

"And lastly, Kat. Our expert in just about anything." Kat lifted her cybernetic arm and flipped me the middle finger. "What happened to your arm?" asked Tali. "Long story. Anyway, I believe that's the Citadel." she said pointing out the viewport.

We all looked ahead and saw the massive station before us. "Bloody hell." Price said in awe. "Keelah...I've heard and read about it. But I never thought that the Citadel would be this grand." said Tali. "Da...it's hard to grasp." Yuri said looking at the large station.

Our ship made it's approach, passing by the massive fleet that was protecting the station. "Fleet this size could deal some damage." said Emile. As we approached the docking area, we recieved a transmission. _"Citadel Control to unknown vessel. Identify yourself."_ "This is the _Cold Dusk_ requesting permission to dock." said Kat. Everything was silent until the operator came back on. _"IFF confirmed. Dock on platform 23D. Welcome to the Citadel."_

After the ship was secured to the platform, everyone got ready to get off. "Hopefully this won't end up too bad." said Price as he lit a cigar as we passed through the airlock. "What could happen?" asked Emile. "With us, anything's possible." I replied.

Tali stuck close to me as the airlock completed it's cycle and opened. Allowing us to step onto the platform.

X

The Citadel is said to be the center of all the politics in the galaxy. Where the biggest diplomats in the Traverse came to speak to one another and make laws for the betterment of everyone. It was also where the finest shops had some of the best supplies availiable. However, the large space metropolis may seem like a glorious place. But it could be just as bad as Omega.

But not everything about the large station was bad. A lot of good things could happen in a place like this.

However, going through the C-Sec checkpoint was the biggest pain in the ass!

The damn cops had been searching all of us for the past hour. And to be honest we were all getting pretty pissed. "Sorry for the inconvience." said the Turian officer. I just brushed past him and headed out of the checkpoint.

"Just what the fuck was all that about?" asked Soap irritably. "It was my fault." said Tali meekly. "People don't trust my kind. They look upon us like vagrants and thieves." Price snorted, "Ignorant asses."

We entered a large atrium where several people were mingling. "So what's up first?" asked Emile. "We need some new tech. And some onmi-tools wouldn't hurt. On top of that our weapons and armor could use some upgrades." said Kat.

"Then lets head to the market district. We could pawn some of our old stuff and get some decent credits." I said leading them to the stores. "You sure you know where your going comrad?" asked Yuri. "Believe it or not, I _know_ the place like the back of my hand." I said over my shoulder. The russian got what I meant and nodded.

As we made our path, we got quite a few odd looks from passersby along the way. We tried to not let it bother us too much. "What the hell are they starring at?" said Emile unconciously reaching for his Kukri. "With looks like yours mate, It isn't a surprise." said Soap chuckling.

Emile slugged the ex-141 operative lightly in the arm, trying not to break the operative's arm with his strength. "Quite a strange group you have here." Tali whispered to me. "Yeah, but their friends, what can you do?" I said back.

X

It turned out that all of our old weapons and ammo fetched a very high price. All together we had accumilated over 18 million credits in all. To say we were shocked was a complete understatement. "I say we head to the bar." said Soap as he tried to get used to his new omni-tool.

"Maybe after we get our equipment. We could use the upgrades." I said as we entered the armor shop. I could practically feel everyone save for Tali and Kat grinning like crazy.

The place had several kiosks, all listing the various items the shop provided. The lone Salarian shop keeper saw us come in and welcomed us, "Welcome to my store. Anything I can help you with?" "Just browsing for now. We'll let you know if we need anything." I said kindly. However, standing tall in black and silver armor with a blood red visor did little good to make him comfortable.

Kat had gone right to work looking for the components to upgrade our gear while the rest of us browsed. Price and Soap looking for some way to have the 141 insignia painted onto the armor they wore. Yuri was looking at various combat knives for close quarters. Emile was trying to locate a new bandolier for heatsinks that could be attatched to his armor.

Personally, I really didn't need anything. And in the likely chance that I did Prophet would just upgrade the systems automatically.

I looked to the other side of the shop and saw Tali looking at different envirosuits. "Find something you like?" I asked walking up next to her. She jumped, but relaxed after she saw it was me. "Yes actually...but I'll have to make due." I looked at the kiosk and saw that she was looking at an envirosuit that had light armor plating that could withstand sufficient damage, but was still light enough to manuver in.

It looked similar to the suit she was wearng now. Except that it was a darker purple and black color. I looked at the price, 300,000 creds. "It doesn't seem that expensive." I said honestly.

Tali's glowing eyes widened, "Xero! I couldn't afford that if my life depended on it!" she said in shock. "Who said anything about you paying for it?" I asked grinning. I slipped my credit chit into the slot next to the kiosk ignoring Tali's attempts to stop me.

A few minutes later, the Salarian shop keeper came over and handed me the armor case containing Tali's new suit. "Consider it a gift Tali." I said handing it to her. She looked from the case, then back at me, "Xero...thank you." "Theres a clean room to change in the back." said the Salarian.

Tali stepped into the back while I checked on everyone else. "Everything good Kat?" I asked. She took her chit out of the kiosk she was on. "Got everything we need. It'll all be sent to our ship within the hour." she said looking back at me.

The others joined us a few moments later. All four of them having the additions to their armor that they were looking for. "Where's Tali?" asked Price. "She should be right out." I said turning back to where she entered the back.

She came out minutes later wearing her new suit. Now, I had seen a lot of good looking women. But the way that new suit hugged her curves made my brain shut down for a few moments.

"How do I look?" she asked hesitantly. "Like you could kick some ass." said Price around his cigar. She wrung her hands together as she came over. "So, where to now?"

I snapped out of my daze and was about to say something when Kat made hand signals out of sight of the others. It was a special code that only Spartans knew. "Actually guys why don't you go grab some grub. I gotta talk to Kat for a minute."

Emile gave a stiff nod while the others looked on confused before they walked away. "What's up Kat?" I asked seriously. "I've been thinking about our situation. And I came across a couple of theories." I stayed silent so she could continue. "Remember when you told me that you kept me and Emile from dying?" "Yeah." "You changed the timeline in our dimension. Then when we entered that dimension with the Ceph, you were the one to get the armor and me and Emile were able to help you. Again, that timeline was changed."

I started to put together what Kat was saying. "And, in the dimension where we picked up Soap, Price and Yuri we were able to assist them to end the war that had started." "So what your trying to say is..." "Exactly. The other universes were drastically changed because of our interference. So that would mean that this dimension could experience changes as well."

A sigh escaped me. She was right. Because of my presence starting in the Halo universe, the timelines had all changed completely in all the other dimensions. Which meant that whatever I knew about this universe could be useless.

"It's already experienced changes." I said seriously. "We saved Tali from the Geth. And in doing so changed the events to follow. So she won't end up meeting Commander Shepard like in the game." Kat brought up her omni-tool, which she had personally imbedded into her cybernetic arm. "We only have one course of action." she looked up at me again, "We have to find some way to get Shepard to come to us."

I thought hard for a few moments. Then it hit me. "Chora's den." Kat tilted her head confused. "It's a bar this guy Fist runs. He's the one who originally tried to 'help' Tali with the data she has with her. But he ended up sending some of Saren's assassins after her."

"We can't let her know we know about the data of Saren's guilt." said Kat. "That's why we're going there. First we'll get Tali to tell us about the data. Then we can head to the club and talk to Fist." I said laying out my plan. "So you intend on going through the same storyline?" asked Kat.

"No, that door has closed completely. But I think shooting up the bar and taking out Fist's thugs should draw enough attention for Shepard to investigate." Kat shook her head, "It's crazy. But it might actually work in our favor." I gave a nod, "Lets go meet up with the others and set everything in motion."

X

We found everyone sitting at a ramen bar in the wards below the market district. After placing our own orders, me and Kat started with the plan. "So Tali, why were those Geth after you?" I asked. Tali set aside her nutrient paste tube, "Well...I aquired some vital information on a Spectre who has gone rogue. I guess he sent the Geth to stop me."

"So what are you planning on doing with it now?" asked Soap. Tali sighed, "I need to find someone to give it to in exchange for safety. I was hoping to find someone who knows the Shadow Broker."

Price stamped out his cigar stub in his empty ramen bowl, "Gotta be someone around here. The big shadow man is well known everywhere."

"Actually, I think I know a guy who could help." I said absently. "A guy by the name of Fist knows the Shadow Broker in some way, maybe he could help." Tali and the others looked at me. "And where is this Fist?" asked Tali. "Place called Chora's den, he runs the joint." I replied. "Guess we know where our next stop is." said Soap.

After paying for the meal, we headed to the nearest rapid transit station and told the driver where to go. To be honest, I know full well the situation we're heading into could be bad. But it was the only way for us to make contact with Shepard.

The whole trip took 15 minutes, and when we got out we were all releaved. Even though we rode in a large transport, having six people in full armor and with weaponry wasn't an easy fit. "Damn, gonna be feelin that in the morning." said Price cracking his back. "Maybe spending so much time in the Gulag made you age faster." I said getting a chuckle out of Soap.

After the other Captain flipped me off, we entered the large club. The various lights and sounds hitting us, along with the smell of smoke and alcohol. "Place looks no different than Afterlife." said Yuri. I looked straight ahead, past the bar, where a large Krogan stood infront of a staircase leading to the second level.

"Alright guys, you go find a spot, me and Tali will go talk to the big boss." I said to the others. Two green lights winked down on the lower part of my HUD signalling that Kat and Emile knew what to do.

Tali and I walked over to the Krogan bouncer. "What do you want?" he grunted out. "Here to see Fist, got something that might interest him and a 'friend' of his." I said stepping infront of Tali. The Krogan sized me up before heading up the stairs.

"Do you have a plan?" asked Tali. "Yeah I do. But be ready incase shit hits the fan." I said, while at the same time I was tagging the guards around the bar with my visor. Through my vision, they were all highlighted red with a triangle over them. The best part was that no matter where I was I could track them.

The bouncer came back down, "Fist will see you." we both went to step forward when the Krogan stopped me, "Just the Quarian." In a flash I had the Krogan against the wall, forearm pressed into his throat with a knife just under the ridge of the crest plate on his head. "For the record, I know how to remove this..." I hissed in his face.

The Krogan's eyes widened in fear, I've never seen a Krogan this scared before. I released him before walking up the stairs with Tali. "Keelah, how did you do that?" she asked. "That's an explination that will take way to long to explain." I looked back at her, "But I promise that I will tell you sometime in the near future."

After giving me a nod, the two of us entered the office. "I thought I had my bouncer tell you just her." said Fist from behind his desk. "He had a change of heart. But that's beside the point." I said calmly.

My eyes quickly scanned the room, tagging where the automated turrets would pop out, as well as the desk before us. "Let's cut to the chase. My friend here." I motioned to Tali, "Has some information that the Shadow Broker might want."

Fist's face twitched, "What makes you think that I know the Shadow Broker?" I crossed my arms over my chest, "The Citadel is like a large cracked pipe. There are plenty of leaks." I said ominously. Fist looked between us, "Alright, maybe I do know him. What data is so important?"

Tali walked up, "I have data that could implicate the Council Spectre Saren of treason and the attack on Eden Prime." Fist's eyes widened a fraction, and Prophet could pick up his heartrate going faster.

"That is some data that he would definately be interested in. I'll contact him and see what he has to say about it." I could tell right away he was full of shit, even if I didn't know he already was.

Fist started to go through his omni-tool for the contact, ten minutes later he looked back up. "I got the go ahead, he will be in an alleyway in the lower wards in an hour. So make sure you be there." he said smirking. I activated a personal comm channel to Tali. "Tali, this guys full of shit." She glanced at me from the corner of her eye. "What do you mean?" she asked. "The Shadow Broker never reveals himself. He has agents who don't even know who he is get whatever it is for him."

I saw her eyes widen, "He's setting us up." "Exactly, my best guess is he's on Saren's payroll. The moment we get there we'll fall into an ambush." I said back. "What do we do?" she asked, I could hear the slight concern in her voice. I reached out and touched her hand, "Luckily, me and the others are always expecting a double cross. Therefore, we always have a way out."

I saw her nod and we went back to talking to Fist who was looking at us oddly. "Is there a problem?" he said with a sneer. I uncrossed my arms and discreetly reached for my handgun. "Yeah." I drew the weapon and aimed at his head, "Your fucking lying." Tali took out her shotgun and aimed as well.

"What the fuck!" Fist held up his hands. "The Shadow Broker never gets information himself. He always have some slack jawed idiot do it for him. Therefore, you were setting us up." Fist starred at us, then started to chuckle, "You think you can kill me? This club has dozens of guards stationed. You'd never make it out alive."

I tilted my head and started laughing, which had creeped both Fist and Tali out. "In that order. Yes. So what. And we will. Oh, and one other thing." I lowered my gun, "Your the one not getting out of here alive."

In one swift motion, I kicked the large desk with all my strength. It flew through the air, slamming into Fist, and went shattering through the window behind him and crashing into the elevated part of the bar on the ground floor.

People started screaming and bailing out of the bar. I looked down from the shattered window and saw the remains of the table and Fist layed in a mangled pile on the ground.

I dove back just as a round struck the wall I was standing near. "Time to go." I said to Tali just as we headed for the ground floor. "How are we going to get out of here?" she asked readying her shotgun. I drew my Reveant, "Thought we'd try shooting our way out. Mix things up a little."

We entered the ground floor as a large firefight had erupted between Fist's thugs and my team. I saw Soap throw a knife that stuck into a Turian's neck, dropping him to the floor in a pool of blue blood. Emile was literally blowing people away with his shotgun while Price and Kat were emptying their weapons at a few thugs that took cover. Yuri was taking pot shots with his rifle nailing several headshots.

Me and Tali ran forward and ducked down behind an overturned table. "Jeez, you guys started to have a party without us?" I asked shooting a Batarian right in the center of it's four eyes. "Take your pick mate. Plenty to go around." said Price as he managed to drop another thug.

Tali fired an overload that took down a thug's shield allowing Kat to take him out with a well placed shot. Peering out I saw three thugs hiding behind another overturned table. I went to grab a grenade when a loud roar tore through the club.

The Krogan bouncer from before was charging at our location. I dropped my rifle and stood my ground. "Xero! Get down!" Tali shouted. I remained still. Just as the bastard was about to hit me I braced myself. _**"Maximum Power."**_ The Krogan slammed into me...but I didn't budge.

"Nice try." I said holding him by his head and shoulder. The Krogan looked gobsmacked at the fact I held him so easily. I grinned under my visor, "Now it's my turn." I raised my fist and punched him in the face, splashing spit, blood and a few teeth across the floor.

Stumbling back, the Krogan looked at me with hate and fury. "Your dead human!" He roared charging again, I lept into the air and slammed both my feet down onto his back crushing him into the floor. The feeling of both armor and bones snapping rippled through my legs.

I looked down, and the Krogan managed to look up. Blood dripping down his face in rivers. "You...are not like other Humans." I looked down at him, "Guess not." I said with a smirk. The Krogan chuckled, couching up blood, "Either way...you'd be welcomed on my homeworld...as a worthy warrior."

I drew my hand cannon and aimed at his head, "Rest in peace." I pulled the trigger putting him down for good.

X

The rest of the thugs had been dealt with quickly, considering who was on our side it wasn't hard to believe. Soap was sitting on the bar drinking a Human made beer, "Well...that was fun." he said tossing the bottle away.

"Think they'll notice the damage?" asked Emile. We looked around. The bar was litered with dead bodies and broken bottles, all the tables were smashed, the bar was broken in several places, and the stage above the bar where the dancers once were was hanging lopisided onto the floor. "Nah, slap on a little paint and no one would notice." I said with a chuckle.

We turned to leave, when we spotted another group gawking at all of the destruction. Among them were three Humans, two women, one male, a Turian, and a Krogan with large scars on his face. "Damn...guess we didn't get here first." said the Turian, which I knew was Garrus.

The woman leading them, standing in black armor with the N7 insignia on the right breast plate. Raven black hair cascading down her back, and a pair of steel colored eyes that spoke of experience and war. It was a no brainer that the woman before us, was Commander Shepard.

"I guess you all have an explination as to why you shot this place to hell." she said looking at each of us. When she settled on me her eyes widened a fraction. I put my weapons away, "That we do ma'am, that we do."

**A/N: Everythings flowing together a lot better than it did before. I'm making the chapters longer as I go in comparison to what this story was before so I hope you guys are liking it. Till next time guys.**


	3. Welcome to the Normandy

**A/N: I've been considering the words of one of my reviewers and I feel obligated to answer. Even though Alchatraz had a symbiotic link to the nano suit in Crysis and had to rely on it though combat, the same will not be said for Xero. He's a spartan and the augmentations keep the nano suit from bonding with him in such a way. But at the same time the Cyph nanites and the nano suit in combination to the augmentations make Xero stronger than his fellow spartans.**

**Anyway, here's the next installment. (I own nothing)**

_Destruction, gunfire, the sounds of soldiers dropping around me. The large mech stomped through the street raining gunfire down on the Marines in the diner where we took refuge. _

_Peering out into the street, I saw Emile crouched down behind the remains of a humvee that was destroyed. He dropped down just as his shields were taken out by the mech's guns. I looked over at Kat who was helping the medics with the wounded, "Six, we can't hold out long! If you have a plan do it quick!" she shouted. _

_"The things got some kind of power core on the back. Try aiming at that!" said Emile over the comms. I looked around the diner, siftering through the many empty crates that once held thousands of rounds of ammo and weaponry. _

_I flipped over one last crate and a JAW fell out onto the floor. "Alright." I muttered picking up the launcher. "Emile, I want you to have that thing focus fire on your position." A green light winked at the bottom of my HUD and the mech turned as gunfire struck it's back. I looked at the Marines around me, they were tired, some looked hopeless._

_"Listen up!" I shouted getting their attention. "I'm taking this fucker down, I want you guys to fire every round and grenade you got at it while I take out the core." I looked at the corpses of the fallen soldiers, "No one else is going to die because of that thing." I stepped into the doorway and readied myself._

_**"Maximum Armor."**__ I charged out of the diner when the torent of rounds struck the machine. It turned to regain fire but saw me running straight at it. _

_The chaingun roared, and I felt the rounds bounce off my now thick skinned suit. __**"Energy at 53%"**__ I readied the JAW just as I was more than halfway there. __**"Energy at 17%" **__I dropped, sliding on my back across the ground aiming the heavy weapon straight up._

_I slid right between the mech's legs, the bright red core Emile spoke of was in my sights. I squeezed the trigger launching the rocket right into it. The following explosion shook the mech hard, large cracks appeared along the core and it started to shake more violently._

_My sliding came to a stop, I flipped around tossing the empty tube away and drawing my assault rifle in one swift motion. The mech turned to me, small fires coming from it's joints and sparks flying out of it's back. _

_There was a moments pause as I aimed my rifle straight at it. Then the mech exploded sending debris flying in all directions. _

_All was silent. Then loud cheers roared as the Marines came out of the diner and approached where I was standing. "Pretty awesome. I forgot all the crazy ass shit your able to do." said Emile. _

_Suddently everything froze. The fires, the soldiers, Kat and Emile, everything just stopped as if it were a movie on pause. _

_I raised my rifle and looked in every direction for a target. "Your destiny is close at hand." I spun around and saw the same woman from before, walking across the cracked pavement without losing stride. She approached me, lifting her hand and slowly lowering my weapon by the barrel. Not a hint of fear on her face._

_"Who are you?" I asked. She smiled, her yellow eyes glowed brightly. "You will learn in time. But for now you have much more to do." She waved her hand and everything around us vanished. Now we were standing on a mountain, the large expanse of earth expanding out tens of thousands of feet below us. _

_After surveying where we were, I looked back at the woman. "What's this all about? And what do you mean I still have much more to do?" The woman gave a sad smile, "My time is short, but I'll tell you what I can."_

_She looked out over the horizon, "You remember your death, do you not?" I nodded, "How could I forget." She looked back at me, "You were chosen by the god's to serve a purpose. The survival of the universe...all universes rest on your shoulders." _

_"What's happening? Why are so many dimensions in trouble?" I asked frantically. _

_The sky suddently darkened, red lightning struck the ground causing an infreno to spread across the land. "There isn't much time! You must find the others!" I looked from the destruction back at her, "What others? What the hell's happening!" _

_She gave a saddened look, the flames from the ground shot up the mountain and started to burn her. "NO!" I yelled as I heard the woman scream in pain and sorrow._

X

"MATE WAKE UP!" I snapped awake, weapon raised aiming at everything that was around me. Soap threw himself back with his hands up, "Easy mate, it's just me." Breathing heavily, "What...what the hell..." I said rubbing my head through my helmet.

Around me, Soap, Emile, Wrex, Kat, Price, Yuri and Ashley where all looking at me with looks of concern and a little fear. It was then I realized that I must had fallen asleep on the bench I was sitting on. "You okay?" asked Kat sitting down next to me and scanning me with her omni-tool.

"Yeah...just a strange dream." I said sounding hollow. "When was the last time you slept?" asked Ashley. I took a deep breath and stood up, "About a week ago." I said ignoring the bewildered looks. And I knew Kat and Emile had knowing looks on their faces, they were brother and sister Spartans afterall.

After the incident at Chora's den. Me and the others introduced our selves to Aviana Shepard and her team. After she was told about the data Tali had, she had us all tag along as she brought the evidence to the council. Now here we all sat in the main atrium leading into the council chambers waiting for Shepard, Tali, Garrus, and Kaidan to join us.

"How much longer do you think?" asked Wrex. "Depends on how much convincing Shepard has to do with them." said Price. "Get ready for a long wait then." said Ashley.

It had taken another hour before Shepard and the others came out of the council chambers. "Everything good?" asked Emile. "The council gave me Spectre status. And has given us the mission to track down Saren and bring him down." said Shepard.

"Finally. A good fight." said Wrex slamming his fists together. Shepard looked over at me, "I'm gonna need good soldiers to do this job. Xero, you and your people want in?" I looked from each of the people around me.

Price nodded. Soap smirked. Emile flipped his Kukri between his fingers. Yuri cracked his knuckles. And Kat just rolled her shoulders. Lastly, I landed on Tali, "You in Tali?" I asked kindly. The young Quarian looked at me with her glowing eyes, and I could make out the smile through her visor. "Yes."

I looked back at Shepard, "We're all in Commander." She nodded and smirked, "Gather your gear and meet us at these coordinates in an hour." she said sending the location to regroup to our omni-tools.

X

After we gathered all the gear we needed. Me and Kat sold the small ship to a local merchant. Easy money, though I don't think the Volus was happy at our 'intimidation' tactics to get him to pay a little more for it.

We arrived at the station where the _Normandy_ was docked. Price whistled, "Damn. Now that's a ship." "The UNSC definately couldn't have made something like this by themselves." said Emile.

I could only smirk. Afterall I did tell them all about both _Normandys_ and the features they were packing. The only one not knowing was Tali, who was starring at the frigate in awe. "You okay Tali?" I asked gently nudging her with my arm. She jumped a little. "Yes, it's just that...this ship looks amazing. I wonder what the drive core looks like."

I smirked under my helmet. She was still overly excited about tech like I had expected. I'm surprised she hasn't wanted to take a closer look at the nano suit yet.

Shepard was standing by the airlock talking with Anderson and Udina. "Good luck Shepard. Your gonna need it." said Anderson. "Don't worry, I got the best people I could find." She looked at us as we approached and smirked. "Infact, here's a bunch of them now."

The Captain and the politician looked at us and were shocked. "We late?" I asked casually. "No, just in time actually." said Shepard.

"I have to voice my concerns." said Udina. "And that would be?" asked Shepard. "Shepard already has a Krogan and a Turian on board. Can you trust a Quarian too?"

I didn't know what happened, but the moment those words spilled out of that bastard's mouth I was holding him off the ground by the throat. "You wanna repeat that?" I said with enough ice to turn a sun into a winter wonderland. "How dare you. Unhand me or I'll have you arrested!" Udina ordered.

I pulled him close so that his nose was almost touching my visor, squeezing his throat ever so lightly. "Try it. I. Dare. You." I hissed. "Enough! Xero release him." ordered Shepard. I gnashed my teeth and tossed Udina on his ass. "Take this under advisement. Keep your mouth shut." Without another word I spun on my heel and walked past everyone and into the airlock.

What just happened? I asked myself. I never lost control of my emotions. Hell I was trained to push them aside when a mission was on the line. A hand clasped onto my shoulder"Hay, you alright?" asked Emile. "Yeah, just...a little stressed out is all." I said simply.

Emile sighed, "Xero, Me and Kat know you better than you think. You never lose control because of stress, especially after all we've been through. So what is it really?" I looked down at my hands and sighed. "Honestly brother...I don't know."

X

The ship departed from the Citadel roughly an hour later. We were all gathered in the briefing room while Shepard briefed us on the mission. "According to the information we've recieved; we have three priority objectives." A large map of the Traverse came on at the head of the room. A red blip appeared in a star cluster "The colony Zulu's Hope has been experiencing a lot of Geth activity lately. And transmissions with them went offline a week ago."

Another blip appeared, "On the planet Noveria, there have been reported sightings of Matriach Benezia. Since she working with Saren, it would be the best place to catch her and find out what she knows."

The last blip appeared, "And lastly, Benezia's daughter Dr. Liara T'Soni is said to be working on a Prothean digsite on Therum. Recruiting her could prove to be valuable for stoping Saren."

"Can we trust her? I mean she is Benezia's daughter." said Ashley. "We can't jump to conclusions Ash. Her knowledge of the Protheans could help us understand what the Conduit is and why Saren's after it." said Shepard.

"I say we go after Benezia first. Taking her out could put a dent in Saren's plans." said Garrus. "We should find Dr. T'Soni first. She could give us intel on her mother's abilities along with the Prothean data she's discovered." said Kat.

Shepard went into deep thought. "Kat's right. We should strengthen our team before going after Saren's right hand." I said outloud. The Commander nodded, "Then it's settled. Joker, plot a course for Therum." "Aye aye." said the pilot over the intercom.

"Everyone's dismissed. Except for Xero, I need to have a word with you." Everyone filed out, leaving me and the Commander alone. "You wanted something ma'am?" I asked standing in the 'at ease' position. "First, take off your helmet. I'd like to see the person under than thing if you don't mind." she said in honesty.

I hesitated a moment, then reached up and removed the helmet slowly. When Shepard got a good look at me she looked a little startled. "Your eyes..." "It's a long story. And I'd rather not talk about it." I said running a hand over my bare scalp.

After regaining her composure, Shepard spoke again. "I wanted to know how you and your team are handling everything." I shrugged, "A mission's a mission. No matter what, we'll get the job done." Shepard gave me a look, I could tell she was trying to read me.

She couldn't, and I could tell it frusterated her.

"I need to know that I can trust everyone on board. You have to understand that with a mission this important I have to know about the people I'm fighting with." said the Commander. "What are you asking ma'am?" I asked.

Shepard sat down, motioning for me to do the same, "Honestly? Other than Soap, Yuri Price; Kat and Emile have some pretty strong and impressive armor. And yours...I can't even fathom how you got your hand's on such a powerful suit." She looked me in the eye, "Basically...I get the feeling that there's something up. No one in this galaxy has the kind of tech you and the other two have, so how did you get it?"

Everything kind of closed in on me there. If i didn't tell her, then she wouldn't be able to trust any of us...that left me with one option. And believe you me, I had to make that decision wisely. But regardless, she did have a right to know the truth.

So I sat there and told Shepard everything, how I was hoping different dimensions and bringing others with me each time. I told her about the Spartan program I had undergone like the others. The fall of Reach. Fighting the Ceph and the Cell soldiers through the streets of New York. And saving the lives of Soap, Price and Yuri before winding up where we are now.

At the end of my tale, Shepard was speechless. "So...everything where your originated was just as video game?" I nodded, "Yeah. And because of that I had enough knowledge to keep myself and the others alive. But Kat had pointed out that everytime we step in, the timelines of each dimension drastically change. And who knows the changes we brought to this universe."

Shepard leaned back in her seat, soaking in all I had told her. She looked over the nano suit briefly, "So...that suit has a lot of perks doesn't it?" I sighed, "Yeah, but it's a symbiotic thing. After that Ceph pierced the suit and implanted it's cells into it, the suit changed, as did my body. Me and the suit are one. Neither can operate without the other."

The Commander sat up, "So, those nanites you talked about. Their-" "Inside my by body as well." I finished for her. "From what Kat could make out, the nanites have greatly improved my physiology. Because of the augmentations from the Spartan program, I was able to survive the change in my body. As well as keep the suit from bonding with me perminently like it was trying to do with the last one who wore it."

I looked at the ceiling, "I can regenerate from wounds quickly. My bones are harder than steel. And I'm faster and stronger than my fellow Spartans, which is unbelievable by every standard." I raised my hand and looked at it. "But I'm not invincible. The suit, along with the augmentations have limits. And there's a strong chance that I can burn myself out if I fight at my fullest for too long."

Silence filled the room. My red eyes were still focused on the ceiling above me when I heard Shepard stand up. "Thank you, for trusting me with such a large secret. And I swear, that the information won't leave this room." I stood up, "Thank you Commander. I will give you what info I can on the missions we go one to help us." I looked at her, "Is that all ma'am?"

Shepard nodded, "Your dismissed." I snapped a salute and headed for the door. "One last thing though." Shepard said making me pause. "That Spartan program...it sounded horrid and inhumane..." she said sadly. "How bad was it...for you?"

I kept my back to her as I slipped my helmet back on. "I died four times on the operating table. Forcibly brought back each time. ONI didn't want their prized weapon dead." I walked out the door, but I could feel the pain and sorrow filled look she gave me as I left.

**A/N: The team are on the Normandy, but how much will change with the increase in Shepard's crew. Therum will be up first, and there's going to be a hell of a shocker for you guys.**


	4. Therum

**A/N: This is where some of the biggest changes are taking place in the story. I think everything will become clear as you read.**

**I own nothing**

I had to admit, the _Normandy _was much larger than what I remembered from the game. The crew deck alone was very big. There was a room for every senior officer. The crew's quarters were bigger. And there were more sleeper pods. It was damn impressive.

I contemplated all of this as I sat in the mess. The food wasn't bad, then again all I could compare it to were the MREs the UNSC gave us.

Without the nano suit on, I had gathered a lot of stares from the crew. Some were curious about my size, muscle mass and red eyes. Others were afraid to be near me like I was a time bomb. However, I had a few of the female crew members starring at me every know and again.

Standing up, I left the mess hall and entered the elevator. Punching the key for the Cargo hold/Engineering deck.

After I told Shepard about everyone's situation, the other's couldn't help but agree that it was a good thing telling her. Price said that it was much better to have Shepard on our side than against us. I couldn't have agreed more.

After a long wait, the elevator opened up to the cargo hold allowing me to step out. Like the rest of the ship it was huge. It could easily fit a Pelican dropship and two Scorpion tanks, and still have enough room for a Warthog or two.

Right now though, there was only the Mako, a few tables set up, and the lockers for the ground team on the far left wall.

Walking around, I saw that everyone seemed to be getting along. Soap was with Ashley going over the weapons that we had avaliable. Emile sat ontop of the crate that Wrex was leaning against , both swaping war stories. And lastly, Kat was over working on the Mako with Garrus, though, they seemed to be arguing about something.

"I told you that my calibrations were accurate!" said Garrus. Kat put a hand on her hip and pointed her cybernetic arm at the Turian. "And I told you, you were off. That kind of mistake could have slown down the main cannon's rotation."

I couldn't help but shake my head. A few days aboard the _Normandy_ and everyone was surprisingly getting along with each other. In some ways anyway.

I turned and walked down into engineering, the real purpose I wanted to come down here. After we left the Citadel I haven't talked with Tali, and I wanted to see how she was doing.

Stepping into the large expanse where the drive core was stored, I saw a handful of peopel operating terminals. I saw Adams on my right and he gave me a nod as I walked toward my objective, whose back was turned to me. "Hay Tali."

She jumped and spun around, "Keelah! You have to stop doing that." she said putting a hand over her chest. I chuckled, "Sorry, was trained to sneak up on people. Hard habbit to break."

After she calmed down a bit we were able to talk. "So, what brings you down here?" she asked. I shrugged, "Thought I'd come see you. We haven't really seen each other since we left the Citadel." Tali tilted her head, "Your right, it's just getting use to everything. And this drive core, I had to figure out all I could about it."

I smiled, "No problem. Been settling in myself. Kinda like the company." Tali giggled, then she started rubbing her hands together, "I never thanked you...for sticking up for me back at the Citadel." I looked at her seriously, "It was nothing Tali. I won't let some bigot try to bring down your good name because they can't see past their own nose."

Tali's eyes crinkled a little, I could tell she was smiling. "Thank you...but I have to ask. Why did you do all of that for me?" I looked at her confused. "Saving me from the Geth. Getting me my new suit. Keeping me from falling into a trap with Fist. Sticking up for me against Udina. No one outside the Flotilla has ever been that...kind. Selfless."

For all intense and purposes, I was trained to crush down my emotions at a moment's notice. But I still couldn't help the small blush that lightly marred my face. "I hate to see people hurt, physically or emotionally. I've...seen a lot of good people die."

Memories of Jorge's sacrifice, Carter's death, and the deaths of the countless Marines who fell in New York and on Reach bombarded my mind. I quickly pushed it away and gave a light smile. "When I saw you in need, I couldn't help but react. Your innocent, selfless. Trying to make the lives of your people better through your right of passage."

With each word I spoke, I could see Tali's body language changing rapidly. And she was wringing her hands together a little more roughly. "I...uh, well...you see...T-Thank you...Xero." she said stumbling over her words.

I looked into her glowing orbs with a seriousness I only used when faced with impossible odds, "I'll always be there, to protect the ones that are closest to me. Now, that includes you. No one, nothing, will ever hurt you as long as I'm alive." Tali seemed to waver on her feet a little.

"I...uh, b-better get back to...work. B-But I am honored, to have someone...like you there for me." I smiled again, "I'll see you around Tali. Don't be a stranger." With that I left engineering so she could work.

X Tali's POV X

...Keelah...what's happening to me? I watched Xero leave engineering, my eyes not once leaving his form until he disappeared into the Cargo hold. Even then I starred at where he had been moments ago.

I felt...strange. My heart wouldn't stop racing. I couldn't think straight. And my body felt as though I had been standing too close to a ship's reactor. I was so lost in a haze that I didn't notice Engineer Adams until he put a hand on my shoulder. "Tali? You okay?"

"Uh...y-yes. Just fine." I said getting right back to my terminal. "That Xero, from what I've heard he's one hell of a soldier." said Adams. "He is. I've seen what he can do. It's almost unbelievable." I said focusing on decoding the data before me.

Adam's chuckled, "You know, if I didn't know any better I would say that you two have a thing for each other." My back went redgid and I felt my face heat up. "What! No! I-It's not like that at all! Me and him are just friends!" I exclaimed, feeling my face heat up more at my outburst.

Adam's held up his hands, "Just an observation Tali. I didn't mean to get you riled up." I sighed, "Sorry." He waved it off, "It's fine. But you should think about getting something to eat. You've been down here all day."

"I'll eat after I get this data decoded." I replied. Adam's nodded and went back to what he was doing. I turned back to my terminal. Xero's words echoed through my thoughts. And all I could think about where those ruby orbs of his.

Could it be possible?

X Xero's POV X

_I was once gain back in my memories...This time I was on Reach. Me and the surviving members of Noble team were inside the Forerunner structure underground around Dr. Halsey as she furiously typed away at the terminal before her._

_"Done." She said walking over to another terminal where she pulled out a glass cylinder with a glowing blue orb inside. "This AI must get off Reach." said the docter. She walked up to me and held it out, "She chose you, Noble Six. Keep her safe." I reached out and took the cylander, my eyes focused on the orb within. _

_"I will." I said with calm determination. The doctor gave me a sorrowful gaze, I knew full well that Halsey had done all in her power to stop ONI from turning me into a mindless killing machine. "I'm sorry Xero. I wish I could have done more..." _

_I hooked the protective cell onto my lower back, removed my helmet, and gently embrased her. "It's okay. You did everything you could." I pulled back and smiled at her. "Thank you...mom."_

_Halsey smiled with tears in her eyes. Jun stayed to protect her, while me Emile and Kat went to get Cortana off of Reach._

X

_I was now standing on a barren wasteland that was once beautiful. The _Pillar of Autumn_ had managed to escape the planet while me and the others kept the Covenant off their backs. _

_My armor was badly damaged. Shields perminently disabled, cracks and torn armor plates hung uselessly off my form. My helmet, cracked and dented, laid at my feet. Blood from my head dripped over my eyes, but I continued to stare into the distance._

_My grip on the detatched stationary gun in my hands tightened. I had no idea where Emile and Kat were. But if it meant that I would die ensuring their survival...then so be it._

_Through the smoke and dust, the forms of dozens of Elites came forth. Charging with warcrys at my position. I didn't give them a chance._

_The chain gun in my hands roared, the heavy slugs tearing through shields, armor and flesh. The Elites started to drop like flys, but the more I killed more came out to fight. But I kept the trigger down until the gun ran empty. _

_Throwing heavy weapon aside, I drew my sniper rifle and sighted the oncoming tide before firing. Four rounds. Four headshots. I reloaded. Four more head shots. The first Elite made it to my location with a needler raised. _

_Swinging the rifle like a bat, I smashed the Elite's head in, shattering the rifle and splashing purple blood everywhere. _

_I drew my DMR, but another Elite sliced it in half with it's energy sword. Throwing the pieces aside, I drew the energy sword I pilfered a while back and parried another blow that was aimed at head. After a brief stand off, we struck, locking swords together and pushing against each other. _

_"Your end has come Demon!" it roared in my face. I gnashed my teeth, "Not...yet!" I released the hold, ducked under the blade, and slashed my own right through his exposed midsetion. _

_Standing again, I walked over to the two halves of the Elite and took the other energy sword from his dead grasp. The distant roar told me that more were on the way. _

_I took a deep breath, I was exhausted, wounded, and to be honest hopeless. The next squad of Elites ran into the clearing, I glared in their direction. "If I'm going to die here...I'm taking you bastards with me!" _

_Giving a battle cry of my own, I charged with both swords activated. Hacking and slashing my way through the aliens with total abandon. One got a lucky shot off with a needle rifle that pierced my side. I took out the glowing shard and rammed it into his throat just as it exploded. _

_After the first few minutes swords ran out of juice, I started using them as brass knucks and started punching everything infront of me. _

_I took out my knife and drove it into an Elite's back, spun him around grabbing his plasma rifle in my hand, and fired on the others using the Elite as a shield._

_Their numbers were dwindaling, but more started to join in the fray. I dropped the now dead Elite ready for more; but I didn't see the dying Elite on the ground prime two plasma grenades until it was too late._

_The explosion sent me and all other standing Covenant flying. My back slammed painfully into the side of a crumbling bunker, sliding to the ground coughing up blood. I couldn't move, my vision was fading in and out. But I was able to make out the squad of Elites that was approaching my downed form._

_To my left, I saw a dead Marine. I reached over and pulled the pistol from his holster and pulled the slide back. _

_The Zelot that was leading the squad paused, then chuckled. "Your death, is at hand demon." he said activating his energy sword. I aimed the pistol at him, "I beg...to differ..." I lowered my aim and shot the frag grenade that was at his feet. The explosion dropped his shield and sent bloody body parts in every direction. _

_The rest of the squad roared and charged, weapons ready. I lowered the pistol, I had nothing left...this was it..._

"Remember kid. Spartans never die, they're just missing in action." _Jorge's words echoed through my head, and I couldn't help but smirk._

_Before the Elites made it to me, they were suddently blown apart by a rocket. A second one followed the first finishing off the rest. "SIX!" Through my darkening vision I saw Kat drop down next to me. Emile on my other side reloading a missle launcher. _

_"He's bad Kat, we gotta get him out of here." said Emile. Kat injected biofoam into my wounds to stop the bleeding. But all I felt was numbness. "Come on Six, we're getting out of here." she said helping me to my feet and slinging an arm over her shoulder._

_Then it happened. a bright light suddently started to surround us. "What the hell is this!" Emile yelled drawing his shotgun and aiming in every direction. I raised my head, and saw the woman. She walked right past Emile and Kat as though they weren't there, and neither one of them saw her._

_She walked up to me with a gentle smile, "This is not your end. You are needed elsewhere." she rested her palm on my forehead and everything flashed._

X

I opened my eyes and starred at the ceiling above me. It was her. She was the one that teleported me, Emile and Kat into the Crysis universe. And I could bet anything that she sent us to this one as well. The question was how, and why?

Sitting up in my bed I started to think more about it. She said that I had to find the 'others', were there more people like me in this dimension? Or were there other game characters that needed to be found?

'Attention, we are on approach to Therum. I need Wrex, Kat, Ashley and Xero to report to the cargo hold.' said Shepard over the intercom. I stood up and walked over to the nano suit, it was game time.

X

The cargo hold was bustling with activity. Everyone was getting into their armor and getting ready for the mission. I was already suited up in the nano suit as I gathered my weapons.

"Xero, can I speak to you." said Shepard after she snapped the last piece of armor into place. After all my weapons were in place we stepped away from the others. "What's gonna greet us on the ground?" "Geth. Armatures on the drive. Checkpoint heavily guarded with turrets. After we bail from the Mako we get ambushed by and Armature, Troops, and Ghosts before reaching the mine."

Shepard nodded and we turned back to everyone. "We're dropping in the Mako. So everybody mount up." The five of us easily fit inside the armored vehicle. Shepard grabbed the driver's seat. Ashley in the passangers next to her. Kat took the turret. And me and Wrex sat in the troop compartment.

"Dropin you guys in. Get ready." said Joker.

I felt the hatch open below us, then the feel of zero-g as the Mako plumeted toward the planet. Since I was use to Helljumper drop pods, and crashing dropships, it didn't shake me or Kat at all. Wrex looked bored. Ashley looked like she was going to lose her lunch. And Shepard had a wide grin on her face.

"Brace yourselves!" she yelled into the back. The thrusters kicked on and the small tank hit the ground jostling us around a little. "We made it." Shepard said with a light chuckle. "Thank god..." said Ashley looking a little pale.

I sat back and tuned everything out around me. I knew what to expect from here until we get out of the Mako, so for the time being I was going to run some diagnostics. It was a good thing I was able to link Prophet to the _Normandy_'s systems and remotely download the maping data.

"Prophet, give me a rundown of the battle field around us." My visor changed from seeing the inside of the Mako to a large map of the area showing a small white triangle moving along the low roads. _**"Environment contains heavy magma streams. Cliffs around them unstable."**_

I looked through the map briefly, then settled on the area where the Geth blockaid was located. "Tactical options on Geth blockaid." The map zoomed in on the checkpoint. _**"Two options for infiltration. Turrets mounted on outer walls provide high explosive defense. Direct assault may result in heavy damage and casualties. Best course of action...take road branching off from the main circut."**_

"And the mine we're heading to?" The map zoomed in and showed a three dimensional blueprint of the mine Liara was in. _**"Mine shaft is unstable from digging up ruins. Addition to the rising magma levels under the surface further weakens the mine. Suggest immediate extraction of Dr. T'Soni."**_

While this was going on. Shepard had been battling her way through the rough turain, Kat firing off accurate shots with the cannon putting the Geth opposition with little difficulty.

I deactivated my visor and saw we were approaching the checkpoint. "Shepard, there's an off shoot from the main road. Take that." Ashley looked back at me, "Why?" "From what I can see from the map of the area, the Geth should have the front heavily fortified. If we go in from the side they wouldn't be expecting a sneek attack." I replied.

"Sounds good to me." Shepard cranked the wheel turning down the small road. "Turrets up high!" Kat swiveled the cannon and blasted them off their perches. "Eliminated." she replied. The Mako pulled closer to the side enterance to the checkpoint when I had Shepard stop.

"Why here?" she asked as I stood up. "There should be resistance inside the blockade. So I think we should split up. Me, Wrex and Kat will go in and take some of the Geth out using stealth, then have you guys come in with the heavy firepower."

Everyone glanced at each other. "Alright, but if you become overwhelmed radio us and we'll back you up." said Shepard. I popped the hatch and me, Kat and Wrex jumped out onto the ground. "Stealth? I'm a Krogan. We don't do stealth." grunted Wrex. "Just bare with us big guy. There'll be plenty of things to kill regardless." I said as we started moving ahead.

When we reached the opening, I scanned the area before us. "Lets see...we got four snipers along the walls. Three with rockets on the ground. Four troopers. And a Juggernaut." I said highlighting each of the Geth. "What's the plan?" asked Kat.

I looked through enhansed vision. I saw a bunch of explosive barrels by the Juggernaut and two of the Troopers. "There are some explosive barrels down there. The only problem that I see are the snipers." I looked over at a large crate that was a little ways away. "Alright, I got it.

I looked to Wrex and Kat, "I want you guys to get into position behind that crate. I'll get ontop and use my cloak to take down the snipers. After you hear me fire the first shot, Wrex, shoot the barrels close to the Juggernaut."

I turned to Kat. "Kat, there's a terminal inside that small bunker over there." I said pointing at the door opposite of the main enterance. "Inside there are the controls for the gates. You think you can hack them and get the door open?"

Kat tilted her head, and I knew she was giving me a 'are you fucking stupid?' look. "Got it. When do you want me to move into position?" "After Wrex blows up the Juggernaut. That way all the Geth are disoriented you can make it there without difficulty. She nodded. "Okay, let's get this started."

_**"Cloak Engaged."**_ Wrex's eyes widened as I vanished into nothing but a shimmer in the air. "Let's go." I moved down the slope and jumped onto the top of the crate. Down below, Wrex and Kat drew their weapons and readied themselves.

Taking out my sniper rifle. I laid in a prone position and aimed for the first Geth sniper. _Crack!_ The Geth fell with it's optic blown out. The other Geth heard the shot and were on guard. A moment later, another round was heard and the barrels on the other side of the area exploded taking the Juggernaut and the Troopers with it.

I fired again taking down another sniper. Chambering another round I shot the next one. "Kat, did you make it to the gate terminal?" I heard a burst of gunfire from the direction she went before I saw a green light wink on my HUD.

When the last Geth fell I radioed Shepard, "Commander, It's all clear." My cloak deactivated and I jumped down from the crate. "Effective plan." said Wrex. "What would you have done?" I asked. The Krogan warlord shrugged, "Probably charged in blowing up everything in the way." I shook my head just as the Mako approached us.

X

The rest of the trip was uneventful. Taking out the Armatures that waited for us. But with me sending hints to Shepard where and when they would be there. We reached the small passage where we had to get out.

"Looks like we're hoofin it." said Ashley when she hopped out. "Commander, I'm picking up some weird biological readings half a click from your location." said Joker. "What do you mean? Is it some kind of indiginous lifeform?" asked Shepard. "Not sure Shepard. You better keep your eyes open just in case."

I looked at Kat who looked back, something didn't feel right about that. Regardless, we started our trek up the path weapons drawn. "Xero, any idea what that was about?" Shepard asked through a private comm. "Not a clue. Like I said before, the timelines changing because of our presence. So who knows what could happen." I said back.

We reached a large opening and were attacked by Geth. I used my sniper rifle to deal with the Geth snipers on the ridge while Wrex and Shepard used their biotics to take out the ones on the ground.

When we reached the abandoned structure before the mineshaft. Geth started to come at us in groups. "Damn! Wasn't expecting this many!" I shouted gunning down several with my assault rifle. Kat and Ashley where using their combined firepower to keep the Geth back while Wrex fired a singularity that send three Geth flying in different directions.

Shepard saw something above our cover and tossed a grenade upward. When it detonated two Ghost Geth fell dead to the ground. "Their in cover!" shouted Ashley. I stood up and took out my shotgun. _**"Maximum Armor."**_ I ran forward, my enhanced speed reaching the hidden Geth in moments.

Before they had a chance to shoot, I blew them into scrap with close up blasts. I felt a few rounds bounce of my back and saw a Geth sniper shooting at me from the landing above. I drew my pistol with my avaliable hand and shot it three times through the chest.

Movement behind me. I aimed my shotgun one handed and fired, the Ghost that was trying to sneak up on me was blown to pieces.

"Xero incoming!" shouted Shepard. A Geth dropship flew in and dropped it's payload, the Armature unfolded itself and fired a blast that hit me dead on and sent me crashing into the dirt where the others had taken cover. "You good?" asked Kat. "Yeah, thank god for the armor feature." I said getting up.

The Large Geth kept us pinned down, and it's barriers made it hard to cause any kind of damage. "Can't you do that cloaking thing again?" asked Ashley. "Energy's gotta replenish." I said tossing a grenade at the Armature. Our cover was starting to crumble. And I could see that Shepard was about to call for a fall back.

Suddently...something crashed into the Armature from behind. Shaking a little, the large Geth started turning around only to have a large crate ctash into it again making it shudder in place.

A form jumped from the ground and landed ontop of the Armature. _**"Nanovision Engaged."**_ Through the heat sensitive sighting, I saw a human shape glowing like the sun. It drew a large blade like weapon and plunging it into the base of the Geth's neck.

The Geth shook violently before it's head was sliced clean from it's body collapsing onto the ground in a heap. "What the hell was that?" asked Ashley.

The figure jumped from ontop of the downed Geth, three other forms joined them as they all started to make their way to us. Through the dust, I saw who it was...and I couldn't believe it.

Infront of us stood the imposing form of James Heller. His arm in it's massive blade form ready to strike us down in a moment's notice. Next to him stood Dana Mercer, Jame's daughter Amaya and a freed Liara T'Soni. "You guys with those fucking machines?" asked Heller as his blade sliced a large cut into the ground.

Shepard stepped forward, "No, we came here to rescue Dr. T'Soni from the Geth. But I see that she's in good hands." Liara smiled, "Yes. Had it not been for James and the others I would have been captured by the Geth." Shepard smirked, "I'm Commander Shepard, Council Spectre."

Liara smiled back, "Liara T'Soni." Heller's arm shifted back to normal in a flurry of red tendrils making the squad cring slightly, "James Heller. This is Dana Mercer and My daughter Amaya." Shepard nodded to them, "If it is alright with the lot of you, perhaps we can discuss what happened here back on my ship?" Liara nodded, Heller just shrugged.

Everyone started to head back to the Mako. But I stayed behind, Heller, Dana and his daughter did to. For a while me and Heller just starred at each other, it almost felt like we were both here for a reason.

"She told me to find you." he said suddently. I removed my helmet and looked at him confused. "The woman who brought uso this place. She said to seek you out. Said something about stopping some kind of catastrophy." said Dana.

Realization hit me. She had said I was to seek out the others. And James and the others had to have been them! "Names Xero, and trust me, she's been leading me around by the nose too." Heller chuckled, "No shit?" I nodded, "Yeah, but to tell you the truth I'll have to explain back on the ship. Me and a few others are in the same boat as you."

I looked down at Amaya who was clinging to her father's leg. Kneeling down I smiled at her, "It's okay. The people there are nice, you can trust them." The little girl loosened her grip on her father's pants and gave a shy smile.

The second Prototype raised an eyebrow before shaking his head. "And I thought waking up and saving a fucking blue woman from cycloptic robots was strange." I chuckled as we started after the others. "Trust me Heller. In this universe, the word strange losses much of it's meaning."

**A/N: How's that for a twist? I figured having Heller and Dana on the crew would make things a little more interesting, and having Amaya on the ship would bring a little bit of a family type setting every now and then. Update coming soon guys.**


	5. Ghosts of the Past

**A/N: Been on one hell of a roll here. So I decided to update really quickly today.**

**I own nothing**

It had come to my attention that the briefing room was starting to get a little...smaller. With the new additions to our team it started to feel a little more crowded, but we all managed to get it to work.

After being debriefed on the mission, Liara melded with Shepard to try and make sense of the Prothean message in her head. But the main thing I was focused on was the arrival of Heller, Dana and Amaya. If there were to be more than just them, who else should I be expecting?

I was brought out of my thoughts when I head Shepard speak again. "So, Heller. How did you and the others wind up in the digsite where Liara was located?" Heller shrugged from his spot leaning on the far wall. "Can't remember much. All I remember is a bright flash and I wound up here."

"What about your abilities? There haven't been any recordings of powers like that." said Kaidan. Heller seemed to look of into the distance for a moment. "Gott'em because of a motherfucker named Alex Mercer. He was a walking virus that infected me with whatever he had. I have his powers...and gutted the fuck outta him with them."

Everyone glanced at each other for a second. "Jumping dimensions, sounds a little far fetched if you ask me." said Garrus. Shepard cast me a glance. I looked to the others who all agreed.

"It's more common than you think." I said getting everyone's attention. I stood up, "I say this, because me, Kat and Emile are from another universe. Soap, Price and Yuri are from another." "Your kidding right?" asked Ashley.

I rolled my eyes before walking to the front of the room, bringing up my omni-tool in the process. A large screen appeared, "Prophet, access memories." The screen had several codes of data running through, _**"Scanning...Memories located...Distortion detected..."**_ "Prophet?" wondered Liara.

"Prophet is a sentient VI interface built into the nano suit. Modeled after the first person to wear it." I explained. "What happened to the first guy?" asked Wrex. "He killed himself." I said bluntly making everyone wide eyed.

_**"Memories accessed...stand by..."**_ There was static for a second, than an image appeared.

X General POV X

_"Doctor we're losing him!" "I'm doing what I can! We've never put the augmentations into someone older than 15!" "Just do it. Akerson won't be happy if he's dead..."_

_X_

_Xero stepped out of the Warthog and made his way to the Commander center where his new team was waiting. Kat's arm reached out and stopped him as he entered the room, "Commander." Carter turned from the terminal he was at, "This must be our new number Six." _

_"Kat, you read his file?" asked Emile. "Only what wasn't covered in black ink." she replied. Carter regarded him, "Just remember leutenant, we don't do that lone wolf stuff out here. We work as a team got it?" "Yes sir." Xero replied._

_Carter nodded, "Good. I'm Noble One. Kat, Noble two. Emile and Jorge, Four and Five. Your with me Noble Six."_

_X_

_The team assembled in the control room where they found the bodies of the workers. Xero knelt down and flipped a body over revealing a memory unit. "I'll take that leutenant. Out of your field." said Kat snatching it up. _

_They all heard yelling and saw Jorge bringing a young woman into the room, "Found a survivor. Hay!" He grabbed her gently by the shoulders, "Calm down. We're not gonna hurt you." She calmed and everything started to settle down._

_Xero caught movement, "Contact!" Three Zelot class Elites dropped into the room and attacked. Xero was knocked off his feet. He reached for his dropped rifle, but was grabbed and yanked up to face an Elite who roared in his face._

_A fist lashed out punching the alien hard in the face making him drop Xero. Quickly grabbing his weapon, Xero aimed at the Elites, one who had grabbed a Marine and was holding an energy sword to his throat. _

_There was a stand off. The Elites slowly backed out of the room with their hostage. "Five, Six! Find those bastards and take them out!" ordered Carter._

_X_

_Xero fought his way through the Covenant Corvette. A squad of Marines stuck with him as they made their way to the bridge. "Sir! The bridge should be just up-" the Marine was silenced when a needle shard was pierced through his skull. _

_They stormed the bridge, guns firing on anything that moved. Xero raised his DMR and blew the brains of a nearby Elite across the terminal he was working at. Jackel's with energy shields opened fire, but were gunned down by the combined efforts of the Marines. _

_The ship Captain roared and opened fire with his plasma repeater. Xero ran forward, his shield depleting quickly from the barrage of plasma rounds. He lept into the air and slammed down on the Elite driving it to the floor. The alien roared in defiance. _

_Xero drew his knife and drove it into it's neck. With a good twist, the Captain died with his crew._

_X_

_Xero stood in the Corvette's cargo area with Jorge after the surviving Marines evacuated. "The timer on the bomb was disabled." said Jorge taking his helmet off. "What are we gonna do? The only way to set it off is-" "Manually." Jorge finished dropping his helmet onto the floor._

_"Jorge, no man. You can't!" Jorge ripped off his dog tags and put them in Xero's hand. "Remember kid. Spartans never die, their just missing in action." He grabbed Xero by the front of his armor and carried him to the energy barrier of the cargo hold, "Good luck down there kid." without another word, Jorge threw Xero through the barrier and out into space._

_He could only watch as the Corvette traveled up to the Covenant Capital ship. A moment later it imploded in a large ball of energy, leaving the Capital ship sliced in half at the middle. _

_"Dammit Jorge..." Xero said to himself as he drifted toward Reach's atmosphere. __**"Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!"**__ Xero looked to the other side of the planet and saw another capital ship appear. __**"Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!"**__ Another one appeared next to the first.__**"Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!"**__**"Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!"**__**"Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!"**__**"Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!"**__**"Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!"**__**"Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!"**__**"Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!"**__**"Warning! Slipspace rupture detected!"**_

_Xero's eyes widened in horror as the Covenant fleet kept growing and growing. "Dear god..."_

_X_

_The pelican flew toward their next objective. Their left engine had been hit and was sending out a trail of smoke and fire as they made their approach. _

_Xero stepped up to the cockpit and saw Carter's helmet rolling on the floor. Noble's leader was in the pilot seat with a bad wound on his right side. "Shit. We got Scarabs crawling everywhere." He looked at Xero. "You, Kat and Emile will have to go in. I'll keep them off your backs." _

_"Are you sure sir?" asked Xero. The pelican shook as another round struck them. "No time! Just go!" Xero grabbed his weapons and stood by the open ramp with Kat and Emile. When the dropship was close enough to the ground, they jumped out._

_X_

_The team of three made their way to the ship yard down a narrow path. The ground shook, up above them a Scarab appeared with it's guns charging. "Shit! Get down!" shouted Emile. _

_They dove into cover as the heavy beam hit the rock wall, turning it into a heated sheet of glass. "How are we going to get past it?" shouted Xero. "I got this Six." said Carter over the comms. _

_The damaged pelican came into view and was on a collision course with the Scarab. "Carter!" shouted Kat. "Good luck Noble team. It's been an honor." The pelican crashed into the Scarab and exploded. The heavy tank wavered and collapsed before exploding as well. _

_The three survivors of Noble team could only stare at where their leader once was. "We have to keep moving." said Xero, his voice sounding tired and hollow._

_X_

_Xero stood facing the fully loaded pelican. The MAC gun that Emile was using kept firing, keeping the Phantoms away so the exchange could be made. _

_"Her she is." Xero said handing Cortana's container over to Captain Keyes. "Come with us Spartan. You and the other's can make it too." said the Captain. Xero looked up at the MAC gun and saw Kat standing next to it. Emile kept shooting into the distance. He knew what was to come..._

_"Sorry sir, but it's too risky. Me and the others will keep the Covenant off your backs." said Xero drawing his assault rifle. Keyes nodded saddly, "Good luck Spartan."_

_As the ship flew away, Xero readied himself for the coming assault._

_X_

_Xero smashed in the head of a Brute with it's own hammer when he saw the Captial ship making it's approach. "Emile! If that ship reaches us the Autumn is fucked!" "I know Six I'm working on it!" Another Phantom exploded from a MAC round._

_When the Capital ship was close enough to fire it's weapon, they acted. "Alright you split chin bastards. Eat this!" Emile fired a round directly into the ship's excavation cannon. The large ship shook and it's underbelly exploded as the weapon was taken offline._

_Moments later, the Autumn lifted into the air and flew toward the atmosphere. "They made it." Xero said with a sigh. "What do we do now?" asked Emile, powering down the MAC gun. Xero slapped a new magazine into his assault rifle, "Survive."_

_X_

_(A/N: This memory is basically Xero's dream from two chapters ago. So look back on that if you wanna read it again.)_

X Xero's POV X

Everyone was in shocked silence. Couldn't blame them. Dispite the fact that my projected memories were chopped up, the statement was as clear as a dying star.

"Holy shit." said Garrus. "What happened to the civilians? The rest of the military?" asked Ashley. "Only a handful of ships made it off of Reach. The rest..." Kat let her words hang in the air. "And to think, that was just Reach." said Emile.

I sighed, "Dozens of colony's were destroyed. Turned into useless balls of glass. Billions lost. The Covenant was ruthless. The date then was 2552." Shepard looked like she had been through a million wars in the span of a few minutes. "That wasn't the only war torn dimension you've been through...was it?" she said making everyone gasp a little.

"Yeah." I said looking at the screen. "Continue Prophet."

The screen lit up showing a scrambled image. An african-american man with a bald head covered with bloody tears appeared. _"Listen...I don't know who you are, or where you and your friend's came from. But all I know is that the people in this city need you."_

It showed the man removing my damaged MJOLNIR armor and replacing it with with the nano suit. _"The Ceph...they're here. Find Gould, there you will find your answers."_ The imaged showed me fully in the nano suit. Kat and Emile laying unconsious nearby.

The screen showed the man's face again. _"This is all I can do. It's up to you now." _He raised a pistol to the side of his head. _"Good luck." _a gunshot went off and the screen went black.

"That was Prophet, the same one the VI is based after." I said snapping everyone out of it. "The battlefield was an Earth city, New York City. The date was 2027."

"And I thought NYZ was a fucked up place." Muttered Heller.

"What are the Ceph?" asked Kaidan. I turned back to the screen as my memories came back up. "Your going to find out."

X

My mind was blank as I slowly stripped the nano suit off. After spending another two hours in the briefing room showing the other's the events that occurred in the Crysis universe, Shepard had said that was more than enough to convince everyone.

No one could believe all that me and the others had to endure. But to be honest, they seemed in awe at what we were capable of in a heavy combat situation.

I shook my head as I took the last of the armor off leaving me in the white undersuit that stuck to my skin. This was always a pain. Have you ever peeled off a dead layer of skin? It kinda feels like that when taking the nano suit's underlayer off.

Getting the upperhalf off, I heard the door open and a gasp.

X Tali's POV X

I really had no idea what I was to expect. I was on my way to Xero's room to talk to him. After watching his past memories and all that he had been through, I now knew why his eyes shown such conflict.

What he had been through must have been horrible. Keelah...so many dying around him. Watching his teammates getting killed while he was powerless to do anything. I couldn't understand how he was able to take it all without breaking.

Looking up, I saw I was at the door to his quarters. I felt the suddent urge to turn around and head back to the elevator. But I steeled my resolve and opened the door.

I gasped. Xero stood in the center of the room, the upperhalf of a skin tight suit hanging from his waist. But what caught my attention were the scars. His back and chest were literally covered in them!

They criss-crossed over his pale skin in horrendous patterns. Small indents were seen in a few places which must have been bullets. Among them all were a few large blotches of grey on his skin. One that covered his left shoulder, and another on the lower part on his right side.

"Tali?" I saw snapped out of my thoughts when I heard him speak. Looking from the scars to his face I saw him smiling, "Is there something you need?"

I felt my heart beat a little faster, "Um, I was...just coming to see if you...wanted to talk?" Dammit! Why am I studdering!

Xero gave a light laugh, "Sure Tali, just let me get dressed first." When he started to take off the rest of the suit I spun around and had a huge blush on my face. I had never been in the same room with some one who was...like that!

_know you want to._ I shook my head trying to chase the subconsious thoughts away. _You felt his body after he saved you._ I started to think of the muscles I felt under his clothes. Tone. Rock solid. And those eyes...DAMMIT TALI FOCUS!

I sighed. He's a friend, and that's it. _But it isn't what you want. You want him...all of him._

A hand landed on my shoulder and I lept several feet. "Whoa Tali! Easy, it's just me." Xero said chuckling. "S-Sorry. I-I just got lost in thought for a moment." He shrugged, "It's okay. I often find myself doing the same."

He walked over to the bed and sat down, "You wanted to talk?" I took a deep breath and sat down next to him. "I...I wanted to know how you were." Xero gave me an odd look before realization dawned on him. "Your talking about my memories."

I nodded, "It was...Keelah, it was horrible. So many people. And you...throwing yourself right into the fight to save them." I couldn't seem to find anymore words after that. "Tali." I looked up and saw him starring at the floor. Bosht'et! You made him upset! I mentally screamed at myself.

He turned to me and gave a small smile, "It was what I was trained to do. For the good of humanity against the Covenant. The Ceph were easy in comparison, but were just as formidable."

"Aren't you afraid?" I asked. "Of death?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, "No. If I could save the innocent, nothing else matters." I couldn't believe it. Despite everything he had been through, he would still put himself infront of the bullets for those around him.

He stood up and picked up a stachel pack off of the desk and came back. Opening it, he spilled the contents. Among them was a badly damaged helmet, a set of dog tags, a pistol, and a small pendant on a chain.

"These are some things that I've kept with me when we jumped dimensions." he said picking up the helmet, "My MJOLNIR helmet. The rest of my armor was trashed, but I kept the helmet to help me remember what I fought for on Reach."

He picked up the tags, and I recognized them from his memories. "Jorge's tags." He nodded setting them aside and picking up the pistol that had the slide on the top locked back. "NOVA pistol. The same one that Prophet killed himself with after giving me the suit. Thought I'd keep it to remember his sacrifice."

He picked up the pendent, "When we were in Price, Soap and Yuri's dimension, we were given a mission to save the Russian President's daughter. She gave this to me." I didn't know what to say. What could I say? Sitting next to me was someone who had gone through three seperate wars and came out alive. I couldn't help but feel in awe.

After putting his momentos away he leaned back against the wall on his bed. "I was gonna watch a vid. Want to join me?" I felt my body heat up. "S-Sure. I'm not needed in engineering for a few hours anyway."

Xero activated his omni-tool and started the movie, which turned out to be something from the 21st century called 'Saving Private Ryan'. It was very interesting, the idea of a group of soldiers risking everything to save one man was inspiring, and I couldn't help but get into it. I started to get comfortable as the story progressed, and I began to get tired.

Half way through the vid, I started to get tired. I laid my head on Xero's shoulder, he felt warm...comfortable. It was then I realized how safe I felt when I was around him. And I loved all of the feelings that came through me whenever I see him. I couldn't deny it anymore.

I had fallen in love with him.

**A/N: Since Xero's past has been kinda up in the air, I thought a chapter that more or less explained what he had been though would have been helpful in addition to the flashbacks he's been having in his dreams. Figured that it would add an aura of mystery behind the protagonist. Update right around the corner folks.**


	6. Search for Answers

**A/N: Gotta love having back-up files. Makes updating go by so much more quickly.**

**I own nothing**

_The whole building was in complete chaos. I lept out of cover with my M4 ready and dispatched three guards from behind the bar. "Xero! Makarov's heading to the roof!" Price shouted over the radio. "Six! Go we'll cover you!" Emile shouted as he, Kat and Soap engaged the remaining guards on the floor._

_Reloading the rifle, I ran into the next room and used my enhanced strength to leap up through the gaping hole in the floor. I saw dead guards laying everywhere. "Uhh..." I looked left and ran over to Yuri who was laying on his back pinned to the ground with a rebar sticking out of his shoulder. _

_"Ju-Just go...stop Makarov..." he grunted out. Setting hy rifle aside, I gently lifted him off the ground. Yuri gnashed his teeth as the rebar came out the back of his shoulder and blood gushed out of the open wound._

_I quickly pulled out my last tube of bio-foam and stuck the nozzel into the wound and filling it with the sealing agent. "Kat, Yuri's wounded on the upper level. I treated the wound but he might need assistance." I said into my radio._

_"On our way now Six." replied Kat as I gathered my rifle and went after Makarov. _

_Running out in to an open atrium. The glass dome above me shattered. Price tumbled down and slammed onto the walkway to my right. Another form fell through and stopped in midair with a loud snap. _

_Hanging from his neck by a strong nylon cable, was Vladimir Makarov. His head and neck bent at an odd angle as he swung slowly three stories above the ground below._

_Looking from the dead Russian terrorist, I ran over to Price who had managed to light a cigar and smoke it casually as he looked at the hung man. "You alright Price?" I asked sitting next to him. "Better now that it's all over mate." he replied blowing out a cloud of smoke._

_I chuckled, "Way to go, you crazy old bastard." Price chuckled and took another drag on his cigar._

_As if on que, the light that had consumed me and my fellow Spartans from before surrounded us in a white haze. _

_I heard footsteps, through the light the same woman I've been seeing came toward me. "You know, you have to find a better way to contact me." I said passively. She smiled, "This is the only way I can, I'm afraid." _

_I removed my helmet and stood up to see her better. "So what is it this time, and try to go into more detail. Because all of these riddles are driving me crazy." She gave a light laugh, "You are doing very well on your journey. But there is still far more that needs to be done if you wish to stop the cycle."_

_That little tidbit caught my attention, "Wait a minute! You mean the Reapers." She nodded, "Precisly, but far more than that." I was starting to get really tense, what could be worse than the Reapers?_

_"Another entity has formed an alliance with the Reapers. Their combined might will lay waste to the universe. Then, when they are finished, they will move onto other dimensions and continue their wrath." She said with both fear and sorrow in her voice. _

_I shook my head, "Fuck...what can I do to stop them? And who or what is this other entity?" "The other entity is nearly as ancient as the Reapers. And it also has the ability to lay waste to all organic life." she said. Something about that statement made me feel dread._

_"In order to stop them. You must finish finding the other travelers. They, combined with Shepard's team, will be able to stop them." She seemed to smile, "The Quarian woman, will also play an important roll."_

_"What do you mean? What does Tali have to do with this?" I asked still trying to recover from what she told me before. "Everything." She said smiling. "She is your present...and your future. Keep her safe, and close to your heart."_

_The light around us started to brighten again. "WAIT! Can I at least get your name this time!" I shouted as the light consumed us. "Sereanna" with that everything went dark._

X

I slowly came back to reality and realized I had fallen asleep leaning against the wall. I heard light snoring and saw Tali asleep on my shoulder. Her arms wrapped around my arm, and she seemed to be cuddling with it. Then I heard something, was she...purring?

Not wanting to wake her, I tried to untangle my arm from her. She tightened her grip and growled in her sleep. That almost had me laughing, apparently she didn't want to let me go...she didn't want to let me go?

It hit me. Perhaps...she felt something for me? Shaking my head, I slowly pulled myself away and laid her down on my bed, covering her with the sheets as I did so. I couldn't help but gaze at her. She looked so peaceful and fragile. But I knew that deep down she was dangerous to anyone in her way.

Reaching out, I slowly ran my hand over her veil. Wondering what her face really looked like beyond that visor.

I couldn't help but smirk. The UNSC did all they could to surpress our emotions through the augmentation process. Guess ONI fucked up, because what I was feeling wasn't 'regulation' for a Spartan.

My omni-tool beeped bringing me out of my daze. "Xero, we gotta talk. Me us in the cargo hold." said Kat. I sighed before looking back at Tali and smiled. I may have fought and killed hundreds of enemies, but I couldn't deny what my heart was telling me.

I was falling in love with Tali'Zorah nar Rayya

X

I made it to the cargo hold and saw that it was mostly empty. The only ones there were Emile, Price, Soap, Kat, Yuri, Heller and Dana. "So what's this about?" I asked. "Heller informed us about how he and the others got here." said Soap. "The same way we did." I stated rather than asked.

"Exactly. But the difference is the woman in white." said Price. "You guys have seen her too?" I said in shock. "Yeah. Everytime we sleep she passes this information about some weird fucking shit going down." said Heller.

Dana looked to me, "The others told us about this world, and the 'Reapers' that are suppose to be coming. Perhaps she is trying to help us help Shepard stop them." she offered.

I started to think, "She had told me once that we needed to find 'others'. The next mission we ran into you and the others Heller, who like us is from another dimension entirely." "So you think there are more." said Kat. "I _know_ there are more. The thing is how many and where can we find them?"

"The woman told me to seek you out specifically. Could that be important?" asked Heller. "Probably. If she informed you about me, then she will do the same for the other people being transported here." I said as I started to pace.

"There was something else." said Kat. "Something about another being-" "Allying them selves with the Reapers." I finished. "That feels wrong. From what you've told us the Reapers are bad enough." said Soap. "Da, one army wiping out all life is already a lot to fight. Who the hell would join them willingly?" said Yuri.

"Something bad." said Emile. "We can't focus on that now." said Price, "What we need to do is help Shepard stop Saren and his tin cans. We'll worry about the possible end of the universe later." I nodded, "Price is right. We'll take care of what we have to for now. And in the process we'll try to locate the other travellers."

Everyone seemed to be ready for what was to come. But I had this feeling that things were going to be rougher than I originally thought.

"Hay Heller, where's your daughter?" I asked not seeing the little girl running around. "Asleep in mine and Dana's room. She seem's to like it here, everythings a lot different than what she has seen before." said Heller smirking.

"At least she's safe on a warship than in an infected city." said Dana. "Amen to that lass." said Soap.

After exchanging a few more words we all split up and went about various tasks around the ship. But the thoughts and information I had learned in the last couple of hours was still in the front of my mind.

X

Noveria was said to be the business capital in this corner of the Traverse. But for me, it was a place full of greedy assholes who think their better than everyone else.

Shepard had decided to bring me, Price, Tali, Liara and Heller with her. Heller, who was decked out in his old Commando uniform, walked though the cold air without any notice at the sufficient drop in temperature.

The nano suit kept my body temperature stable no matter the environment. Price and Shepard didn't seem to notice the cold. Tali and Liara however, they were visibly shaking.

"Is this place always this fucking cold?" asked Heller from the back. "I don't feel that bad." said Price. "This coming from the one who buries himself in snow to stealth kill patrol squads." I muttered.

I looked down at Tali, who was walking next to me. "You okay Tali?" She looked up at me trying to fight down the shivering. "I'm f-f-f-fine." I kept my gaze on her, "Prophet. Anything we can do?" _**"Scanning...Direct contact with suit systems will allow temperature regulation to be shared."**_

I reached out and gently held Tali's hand making her jump. "Xero? What are you-" She felt her suit start to warm up and gave me a questioning glance. "Prophet linked your suit with the nano suit. The temperature is regulated to that of 68 degrees." I smirked under my helmet, "Besides, it was either this...or I carry you." I said deeply.

Her body shivered, and I knew it wasn't from the cold.

"That's far enough." I looked up and saw our welcome committy. "Is there a problem officer?" Shepard asked. "You better hope their isn't." Said Stirling. "This is an unschedualed arrival. I need to see your credentials." said Matsuo.

"I'm a Spectre. My name is Shepard." said the Commander. "Load of horse shit ma'am." said Stirling. "We will need to confirm that." said Matsuo. "Also I must advise you that firearms are not permitted on Noveria. Sergeant Stirling, secure their weapons."

The Sergeant walked forward and found each one of us aiming a weapon at them. "You better back off mate. Or else this'll get very bloody, very quickly." said Price sighting his Mattock on Stirling's head.

"We shouldn't start a fight." said Shepard. "True. But my trigger finger is feeling a little itchy today Commander." I said keeping my rifle raised. "Captain Matsuo stand down! We confirmed their identity. Spectres are authorized to carry weapons here." Came a voice from the intercomm.

Matsuo nodded to us, "You may proceed Spectre. I hope the rest of your visit will be less confrontational." "As long as you keep your fucking dog's on their leashes." said shifting his claws back to normal. "What did you say?" Stirling growled getting ready to raise her rifle.

In the blink of an eye, I snatched the assault rifle from her hand. And with a light squeeze, crushed it with one hand. "I hate people like you." I said throwing the useless weapon at her feet. "People who think that just because they have authority, they can harrass who ever they want. Your the one, that should behave yourself." I said as Shepard led us toward the entry checkpoint.

"Xero, what was that back there?" asked Shepard rounding on me. "Relapse in emotional judgement ma'am. Won't happen again." I said taking a few calming breaths. "Try to keep it in check." she said as we approached the markets. Tali looked up at me briefly before looking forward again.

X

What the hell was happening to me? I couldn't possibly understand why I was slowly losing control of my anger, and it made me worry. I didn't want anything to happen to those around me because I lost control.

"Xero?" I snapped back to reality when I heard Tali's voice. Shepard had given us all temporary shore leave while she tried to find a way up to Peak 15. I had decided to head to a bar lounge and relax in one of the booths to think. Tali had joined me saying she would like the company.

"Sorry Tali, just thinking too hard." I said smiling. She tilted her head, "I'm a little worried about you. After what happened back when we first arrived, you seem to be lost in your own mind." she said scooting closer to me.

I sighed, "I don't know what's going on with me. Spartans were trained to control their emotions in every situation. But lately...I'm finding it hard to keep my anger in check." I looked to the other side of the bar in thought. "Like what happened with Udina back at the Citadel. I just can't seem to keep it under wraps anymore...I'm afraid of hurting someone."

Tali scooted closer until our legs touched. She rested her three fingered hand in mine on the table and squeezed, "I trust you not to hurt anyone. Dispite all that you've been through, you are the most controlled." I smiled again, "Thanks Tali. But to be safe I should have Kat and Chakwas look me over. After all, ONI and the UNSC weren't perfect with the Spartan programs."

She nodded. "Come on, we should look around a little more before Shepard calls us back." I said standing up and putting my helmet back on. Tali stood up and we stepped out of the lounge, heading toward the markets.

I don't know what it was, but being around Tali made me feel relaxed and comfortable. This was a new feeling, considering I was forced to fight in two completely different wars and helped end a third. Being relaxed could have got me killed in any of them.

But seeing her innocent persona, and the positive optimistic view on everything made all of that not matter anymore.

We were currently leaving a shop after buying a few things. "Xero, you didn't have to get me a new shotgun." Tali said looking over the weapon. "Your old one was rusted, the heat sink injector was cracked, and it could barely fold in and out of itself. I think you diserved it." I said with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes and giggled. We walked past a group of people who gave us weird looks. "Damn thieves." one of them muttered.

I froze, my fist clentched tightly as I started to feel the white hot rage build up inside me. A gentle hand held my arm. Tali looked up at me shaking her head, her glowing eyes showing nothing but kindness as my rage slowly disappeared.

After a few brief moments, we started walking again. Tali's arms now linked with mine as we kept going. Starting to enjoy ourselves once again.

Though, I kept getting the feeling we were being followed. But everytime I glanced back no one was there. "Prophet, are there any hostiles around." _**"Scanning...no threats detected within proximity."**_ "Something wrong?" asked Tali. I shook my head, "Just a little paranoid."

Up ahead, Shepard and Heller approached us. "Well, don't you two look cozy." Shepard said grinning. I felt Tali let go of my arm, but her hand slipped into mine right after. "So what's the plan?" I asked. "We have a way to get a garage pass. But we have to get an OSD for someone first. I asked Soap and Price to meet us at the elevator."

That being said we headed to the elevator that would take us to the offices. Like Shepard had said, the two ex-141 agents leaning on the walls beside the lift. " 'Bout time. We were getting bored." said Soap. "Cram it shmuck." I said as we got into the elevator.

X

Getting up to the offices went exactly how I thought it would. Dirty cops shooting at us from nearly every direction.

I rolled out of cover firing my rifle, dropping a guard to the floor before putting a round through his head. Heller lashed out with his whipfist and sliced three guards in half splashing blood across the floors and walls.

"That was nasty mate." said Price. "But effective." said Shepard as we moved on. With weapons ready, we tredded up a nearby staircase , using the rail as cover. We reached the top, Price held up a clentched fist before taking out a small mirror and peering around the corner.

"Got eight of 'em. Well armed. Guess they heard all the noise and brought out bigger guns." he said putting the mirror away. Shepard peered over the rail and made a quick scan of the environment. "There's little cover between us and them. But thankfully there are a few benches and signs we can use over on our side."

She looked at each of us, "Soap, Xero. I want you two to make a run for the bench on the far side." She looked to Heller, "You think you can get over there unseen?" the Blacklight carrier looked over the railing and smirked, "Assholes won't know what hit them." he said before leaping over and slowly started shimmying his way to the guards' position.

"Tali, I want you to stay here just in case they call for backup." Tali nodded and crouched lower into the stairs with her shotgun ready. "Me and Price will head to the planter in the center while you guys give us covering fire, got it?" we all nodded. "Shepard, I'm in position." said Heller over the comms. "Wait for my signal." said Shepard before looking back at us.

I peered over the rail before looking back at Shepard. "Go!" Me and Soap bolted for the bench, firing our weapons in the direction of the guards as rounds flew past us. We made it to the bench and returned fire giving Shepard and Price the time to get into position.

I took my sniper rifle out as a guard stood up, the round blew out the back of his skull before he could get back down. "James now!" I heard Shepard shout.

In the span of a few seconds I saw a form land behind the guard's ranks. They never stood a chance as razor sharp claws sliced them to pieces before they even turned around. Shepard and the rest of us got out of cover and looked at the carnage, "Fuck." Soap muttered kicking a decapitated corpse aside.

We were about to move on when a loud scream pierced the air. "TALI!" I yelled.

She was being held at gun point by a wounded guard. "Put your weapons down now or I blow her brains out!" I clentched my fists. I wanted to rip the guy apart...but Tali's terrified eyes bored into me, pleading.

"I said put your gun-!" The guard was silenced from a well placed shot. Price lowered his Mattock with a sneer, "Fucking cunt." he said looking at the dead guard.

I jogged over to Tali and held her shoulders gently, "You okay?" I asked having Prophet check for any damage. "I'm fine Xero. It'll take more than that to stop me." she said picking up her dropped shotgun.

We regrouped and quickly headed into the office where we would find what we were looking for. Inside, Sterling and two other guards were waiting for us. "Do you know what we do to cop killers here?" she asked. "Know what we do to two faced lying motherfuckers where I'm from?" asked Heller shifting his arms into hammerfists.

The rest of us brought out our weapons ready to end the fight quickly.

Behind her, a ceiling grate fell and a white hooded figure fell to the floor. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. The guards turned, but they were cut down by a short sword that sliced through their throat's. Sterling turned last, but she recieved a palm to the collarbone where a hidden blade sprang out and pierced her throat.

Sterling gargled her last couple of breaths as the figure laid her down and closed her eyes. "May you find peace." he said in prayer.

We all lowered our weapons as the hooded man stood and faced us. Shepard looked from him to me. "Can there ever be one day where everything isn't a SNAFU?"

The man looked at us, a pair of dark eyes gazing at us from under the white hood. His eyes immediately locked with mine through my visor and I suddently realized where that feeling from before had come from.

"Greetings." said the hooded assassin, "I am Ezio Auditorie. And I believe that I have some vital information for you."

**A/N: Another twist in the long line of freaky occurances. Now with an assassin from the creed you know things will be a little more...unique...Reviews always welcome guys, feedback is good in my books.**


	7. Seperated

**A/N: Another day, another barrage of updates. So without further interuption , here's the first of many for the day guys.**

**I own nothing**

I was slowly wondering why the hell everything gets rougher before it smooths out. Of course, thinking about all of this while inside the Mako during a blizzard didn't really help matters.

Shepard had been pretty sure of the choices she made for the team. She had both Ezio come along because of his skills. Tali was with us of system hacking. Liara for her biotics. And me, Wrex and Ashley for extra muscle.

I saw Ezio sitting across from me next to Liara. Cloak wrapped tightly around him as he tried to fight off the slight chill in the vehicle. I saw him more than once tinker with his new omni-tool and the pistol Shepard had 'suggested' he take with him. Couldn't blame him though, being an assassin from the 1800's suddently thrown into the 22nd century definately couldn't be easy.

After taking down Sterling and her corrupt police force. Ezio had told us that he had woken up in the garage where we got the Mako roughly two weeks prior and had witnessed an Asari Matriach pass through customs with a large escort toward a place called Peak 15.

He had spent that time clinging to the shadows and learning everything that he could from this dimension as he observed everything going on around him. Even though it was confusing at first, the assassin was a quick learner

Shepard mulled things over, and after deciding that a skilled assassin with his training could have made a valuable asset to the team and brought him on board. When the group split off to help take down the corrupt SOB behind everything I pulled Ezio aside:

X

_"So I take it you know how I got here and why?" asked the assassin. "Trust me, half the people on the crew are from other dimensions...me included." I said as I made sure no one was listening to us._

_"I was hunting a target when I was approached by a woman. She had this aura of power that I had never felt before. She said that I had a purpose else where. When I woke up I was here on Noveria." said Ezio._

_I nodded, "Sounds about right. Trust me." I saw Shepard and the others finishing up. "We'll talk more later. For right now I need to know if you trust me." The assassin nodded, "The woman said that the one called Xero will help me understand my purpose. My blade is yours."_

X

The Mako hit another bump pulling me from my thoughts, I felt a hand grab mine. Tali had a tight grip on me, apparently she didn't like Shepard's driving skills.

A sudden feeling of guilt and self-loathing flowed over me. When Tali was held hostage...I nearly lost myself. She was terrified, and I was helpless to do anything. For the first time since all of this started...I felt weak and useless.

My eyes hardened behind my visor. Not again. I won't let anything like that happen to her again.

"Armature!" Shepard shouted. Ashley spun the cannon and fired on the large Geth. After several hits the large Geth crumpled to the ground leaving the frozen road clear the rest of the way to the facility.

X

Peak 15 had a very ominous feeling to it. Even though I had a good idea of what to expect, that didn't take away the unease. "This place...it feels...wrong." said Ezio as his eyes scanned the room.

"I have to agree with him. Something doesn't smell right." said Wrex. "Wrong or not we have a job to do." said Shepard as she lead us into the facility from the garage.

My shotgun was out, and I kept having Prophet scan the area around us for anything hostile. Everything was too quiet. We walked slowly though the corridors, searching every dark corner for anything out of the ordinary.

_**"Proximity Alert. Hostiles approaching...25 meters."**_ I stopped, "Guys we got company coming." I said swinging my shotgun around. "Where?" asked Ashley. _**"20 meters."**_ Everyone formed a circle for the best possible defense, Ezio brought out his blades. _**"15 meters."**_ "Xero?" asked Shepard. _**"10 meters."**_nothing was coming, but Prophet was never wrong before.

I looked up. A vent grate was right above us. "Wrex, give me a boost." The Krogan gave me an odd look before putting his rifle down and put his hands together helping me up. I gently pushed the grate open, _**"Nano vision engaged."**_

The duct lit up in the heat-like vision.

A throng of Rachni were crawling toward the opening and started shreaking. "FUCK!" I dropped from the opening firing blast after blast into the duct. The others followed suit and unloaded their weapons. The sound's of the creatures being struck and green blood oozed from the holes our rounds made. Blood curdling shreaks echoed through the hall.

We stopped when our weapons started to overheat. "What the hell was that!" screamed Ashley. I stepped forward and slammed the butt of my shotgun into the duct. The sevearly damaged metal collapsed spilling the bodies of the Rachni onto the floor.

"Rachni!" roared Wrex. "Didn't your people wipe them out Wrex?" asked Shepard. "Apparently some managed to get away and are being bred in this place." said Ezio. Wrex growled, "No matter. We killed them once. We'll kill them again."

Shepard looked at Wrex, "What are we expecting Wrex?" "Don't let them get too close, or they'll tear you to shreads. And they spit an acid than can errode away even the strongest of armor, so avoid it at all costs." said the warlord.

We started moving again, this time even more aware than before. Ezio had his shortsword in one hand and newly aquired pistol in the other. "It works like a crossbow, only you don't have to reload the bolts." I said as we moved forward. The assassin glanced at the weapon briefly before aiming it like he would his crossbow.

The corridor opened up into a large atrium The wide space was silent, and the large windows on the side showed the blizzard still going strong outside. I glanced at Tali, her grip on her shotgun was tight. Her three fingers looking as though they might dig into the metal. "Hay." I whispered to her, "You good?"

Tali shook her head yes but didn't say anything. To be honest I was a little scared myself. Memories of so many moments where silence usually meant hell was right around the corner. And with where we are, we were right to be a little tense.

A shot rang out and a squad of Geth began to flow into the room. We all took cover and fired on the synthetics. I pulled out a grenade and threw it across the room, the device flying between two Geth Shock Troopers before detonating and reducing them to scrap.

The rest of the Geth were quickly dispatched as a loud shreak lashed through the air. We all looked up on the landing above us where a Rachni warrior stood as more shreaks and loud skittering was heard all around us. "Defensive positions!" shouted Shepard.

The grates around the room burst open and dozens of Rachni started to pour into the room. Gunfire roared through the large space, green blood splashed across walls and the floors as we kept the heat on.

Liara grabbed three of the creatures and threw them into the far wall with he biotics. Ezio stood next to Wrex, slashing, shooting and stomping on anything and everything around them.

Shepard threw a grenade that took out four with one large explosion. Ashley and Tali were hunkered down behind cover taking well placed shots. I was with them adding my own volley as the creatures continued to pour in. Ashley had to throw her assault rifle aside after acid landed on it and drew her pistol.

One of the creatures tried to jump on Shepard while she was shooting down another group when a throwing knife flew through the air and pinned it's head to the wall. Ezio quickly spun and took the head off another Rachni with his sword.

"There's too many of them!" shouted Liara. Wrex lifted one of the creatures up and threw it across the room. I kicked one into a wall and felt acid land on my chest. _**"Maximum Armor."**_ Even with my armor fully powered I could still see the acid trying to eat it's way through.

I heard Tali scream and saw that she had been seperated from us. The acid had worn off allowing my suit's energy to replensh. _**"Maximum Power."**_ I launched my self into the air and landed hard on top of a few Rachni, crushing them under my feet. Drawing my shotgun in one hand and keeping my rifle in the other I fired in different directions laying waste to anything that wasn't standing on two legs.

Across the room, Ashley primed a grenade and went to throw it when one of the creatures lept onto her back causing her to toss the device in the wrong direction.

Everything seemed to slow down. The disc grenade bounced off the floor and landed close to me and Tali .I only had a split second to think.

I spun around and wrapped my arms around Tali as the device exploded, the blast sending us crashing through one of the windows and plumeting toward the ground. Tali tightened her grip om me as we fell. Looking over my shoulder, I saw a skylight fast approaching and tried to activate my armor.

_**"Energy depleted."**_ Fuck.

I held Tali tighter as we smashed through the skylight and slammed into the ground.

X General POV X

The Rachni had been dealt with for the most part, but that wasn't the first thing on Shepard's mind.

She stood by the shattered window trying to find where Xero and Tali disappeared after the blast. "It's my fault...dammit! Why didn't I see that thing?" said Ashley. "Blaming yourself solves nothing." said Ezio. "He's right. We have two missing people and that takes priority." said Shepard.

"Ash, Wrex, I want you two to head to the lower levels and try to find them. The rest of us will continue on." Ashley bent down and picked up Xero's dropped rifle and nodded, "Consider it done." she said as she and the Krogan headed off to find them.

X Tali's POV X

All I could remember was being sore. I remember the explosion, the fall, then...

My eyes snapped open seeing the shattered skylight above me. Slowly, I sat up and checked myself over. No serious damage, no suit tears, everything felt okay other than the dull ache.

I looked behind me and my heart froze.

Xero laid in a crater made by his own body, and he was motionless. "Xero?" I asked crawling over to him. "Xero?" I shook him lightly with no response. "Xero! Xero wake up!" I screamed, my heart starting to break.

"No...keelah...no." I could feel the tears coming down my face, why did this have to happen? He gave up his own well being because of me...how could I live with that.

My thoughts came to a hault when I heard a loud intake of breath and coughing. "Xero?" His head slowly rolled over to see me, "Hay." he said weakly. I quickly removed his helmet and saw that his mouth was dripping with blood. "How bad?" I asked fearing the worst.

He groaned, "Kinda bad. According to Prophet; shattered left femur, four broken ribs, concussion, my right arm is all but useless, and I think I have a little internal bleeding. Nothing to big." I was in shock, "Keelah...I don't know what I can do..."

Xero smiled and held my hand, "I'll be okay. Gotta give the nanites in my body time to fix the damage. Could take a little while though." I smiled back at him dispite the situation and shivered from the cold that was seeping in through the shattered windows.

"Cold?" he asked concerned. "I'll be alright." I said around chattering teeth. Xero slowly opened his arms, "Come here." I suddently felt very hot in my suit. "Um...I ah..." He chuckled, "No reason to be nervious Tali."

He sounded so kind, selfless once again. I found myself laying down close to him as he wrapped his arms around me. I could feel the heat from his suit seeping into mine, and my body started to heat up from the close contact with him.

A sigh escaped my lips and I curled into him more. I felt safe, and the sound of his heart beating made me smile. "Tali." I looked up into his red eyes and the warm look in them made my heart flutter. "Nothing's going to happen to you. I promise." His said as his hand gently ran over my veil.

My grip tightened on his form and I rested my head in the crook of his neck. Nothing else mattered to me anymore, as long as I had him.

X Xero's POV X

I couldn't help but feel at ease. The beautiful girl in my arms brought me peace, and gave me a purpose to fight. Hearing her light breathing, I put my helmet back on and swore to every higher entity in existance that no one will take this angel from me.

X General POV X

Unknown to the couple. The sounds of chirping and skittering started to come from the lone vent in the room they were in.

They weren't alone.

**A/N: With the two seperated from everyone else, how bad can things get?...This was a pretty short chapter, but I'll be having several more updates for you guys today so be ready. **


	8. The Past that Haunts you

**A/N: This chapters got more twists and turns in it than the New Jersey turnpike. For those who have read this fic before probably know what's coming but that doesn't change the impact any.**

**I own nothing**

_Everything was peaceful. I starred at the large open field of grass and trees as I scanned the horizon._

_Suddently it all changed. Now I was standing on a hill in my MJOLNIR, the once beautiful field was not burning. Covenant ships flew over head glassing everything under them. Something was coming up behind me, I spun, but a Zelot Elite grabbed me by the neck and held me off the ground, energy sword poised to strike._

_**"You failed them."**__ it said in a booming voice. The Zelot changed into a heavy Ceph, __**"No matter what you try to accomplish, you will always fail."**__ It threw me to the ground before morphing into General Shepard. __**"It is inevitable. Your petty attempts to change history are as hollow as your future." **__he said aiming his revolver at my head._

_The General changed into Saren, __**"The cycle will never be stopped." **__Saren started to morph, but it wasn't like the others. The Turian's skin turned a sickly green, his head snapped to the side and green tentacles and spikes burst from his body._

_Saren's lopsided head laughed in a booming voice that was different from the first one. __**"WE EXIST TOGETHER NOW. TWO CORPSES, IN ONE GRAVE." **__The gun went off._

X

I bolted right up, drawing my pistol and shooting the Rachni warrior that was poised to tear us apart. Tali sat up from the gun shot after the body fell to the floor. "What happened!" she shouted. "We have to get out of here." I said standing up.

A sharp jab of pain lanced through my chest. My arm, leg and head healed but my ribs were still in the progress of healing. Tali helped me stand, "Your still hurt." she said supporting me up. "That doesn't matter, if one of the little bastards got down here more are probably on the way."

I stood up ignoring the pain in my chest. "Prophet, max armor around my ribs no place else." _**"Maximum Armor."**_after the armor hardened I motioned for Tali to follow me out of the only door in the room.

"How did you know the Rachni was going to attack us?" asked Tali. I peered around a bend in the corridor, "Developed a sixth sense for enemies trying to kill me in my sleep. Comes in handy after a while." Not seeing any hostiles we continued onward.

_**"Proximity Alert. Hostiles detected."**_ The duct behind us collapsed and three Rachni warriors landed on the floor. "Go, Go, Go!" I shouted blasting the large bugs. We ran down the hall as more of them started to fall from the duct. I pulled out a grenade and tossed it over my shoulder as we kept running.

The explosion and the loud shreaks behind us confirmed that some of the Rachni were killed. We reached the end of the corridor but the door wouldn't open. "Dammit! Tali cover me." I forced my hands into the door and forced it open, the metal grinding loudly as it was pulled to the side.

"Xero!" Tali shouted. The Rachni had come around the corner and were coming at us in force. "Get inside!" I grabbed the door again and started to force it closed while Tali fired her pistol through the shrinking gap to keep the creatures back.

There was only a few inches left when a few claws from one of the Rachni came through and was trying to force the door back open. Tali activated her omni-tool and a glowing orange blade sprang from it. She thrusted forward and stabbed the Rachni in the chest splashing green blood on the front of her suit, the creature fell back giving me time to seal the door.

"That door won't hold long." I said looking around the room. There was another door on the other side and I jogged over to it. It was locked. I tried to force it open like the other one but it wouldn't budge. "Shit." I grabbed a metal desk and slammed it as hard as I could against the dense metal. "Not even a scratch." I dropped the now bent piece of office furniture.

"Up there." I looked at Tali and saw she was pointing to an open duct above us. "Looks like our best shot." I cupped my hands and gave her a boost up, she grabbed the edge and pulled herself in, "It's all clear!" she called down.

The door we came in was smoking, the Rachni on the other side were trying to burn their way through with acid. I grabbed all the grenades I had left and stuck them to the door with omni-gel, "Trick or treat you fuckers." I ran back to the duct and jumped up into it following after Tali.

We didn't get a few feet before the whole duct shook from a large explosion. "What in Keelah's name was that?" asked Tali. "That would be the little gift I left the Rachni back there." I said as we kept going.

X

The grate fell from the ceiling and I dropped to the floor, scanning the corridor with my shotgun. "All clear." I caught Tali as she lept down and set her on her feet. "Where to know?" she asked.

"Xero? Tali? Are you guys out there?" I activated my comm, "Ash? Yeah we're here." "Thank god. Me and Wrex are looking for you guys. Shepard and the other's are continuing the mission. Where are you?" I looked around the corridor and saw the words 'Sub-3' on the wall. "We're in a corridor on Sub-Level 3."

"We're on the level above you, hang tight." said Ashley as the line ended. We headed toward the end of the corridor hoping to link up with them. "How are you feeling?" asked Tali. "Better, it's more of an annoyance than actual pain. It's a good thing I didn't land on my head." I replied.

I could see her smile under her visor, "That would have probably been less painful." I put my hand to my chest in mock-pain, "Ouch Tali, that stung." she laughed and I couldn't help but love that sound.

We entered another wide atrium with a flight of stairs that lead up to the next level. At the top balcony Ashley and Wrex were seen. " 'bout time what kept you guys?" I called up to them. "Kinda hard to find two lovebirds around this place." Ashley said back with a grin. "I don't think a lab ontop of a frozen mountain counts as a romantic getaway." commented Tali.

Before any more witty banter could be exchanged the whole room shook. "What the hell?" I said outloud. "Something's coming." said Wrex readying his shotguns. The room shook again as we readied our weapons.

The center of the atrium exploded in a shower of metal and a Rachni warrior, easily four times bigger than the ones they encountered before appeared out of the hole in the floor. It let out a loud shreak and we wasted no time in opening fire on it.

Each round seemed to bounce off of it's skin and having little effect. "It's got an exoskeleton! We need a new plan!" shouted Ashley. Wrex lept down from the balcony and landed on it's back, pumping round after round into the hard shell and causing it to crack in some places.

The creature screamed in agony and started thrashing forcing the Krogan to leap off. One of the creature's tentacles lashed out catching me in the chest and sent me into a wall. My healing ribs flared up, even with the hardened armor around them It couldn't stop all of the pain.

Ignoring the ache, I got up and resumed firing on the large Rachni trying to find a weakspot. The creature reared it's head up and let loose a stream of acid that coated the balcony where Ashley had taken cover. The corrosive substance melted through the steel as though it were paper.

Ashley bolted from where she was and vaulted the wall landing on our level. The Rachni fired another stream, I grabbed Tali and ducked as the substance coated the door we came through and perminently melting it shut. Wrex charged forward and forced the barrel of his shotgun into the side of the creature and fired. The heavy round penetrating the outer shell and spilling green blood everywhere.

The Rachni fired acid at the Krogan who created a barrier around himself that made the fluid fly around him. I looked from Wrex to Ashley. "Ash! Throw me a grenade!" The gunnery chief tossed me the explosive device. "What are you going to do? asked Tali. "Something stupid."

I looked back at the warlord, "Wrex! Shoot this damn thing again, I have an idea!" Wrex nodded before firing a powerful blast into the Rachni's exposed side that caused the creature to screech in pain.

Using the distraction, I lept into the air and latched onto it's head. "Eat this!" I crammed the grenade in it's mouth.

But before I could pull my arm out it slammed it's mouth shut, it's teeth slicing into the arm of the nano suit and into my skin. _**" Warning. Suit Breached."**_ "No shit!" I shouted trying to force the Rachni's mouth open.

The grenade in my trapped hand started beeping. "Ah this is gonna hurt." I tossed the device down the thing's throat. Moments later the Rachni exploded and I was thrown violently into the wall on the far side of the room.

When I hit the floor my vision blurred and I felt several things crack and break within my body. The arm that was once trapped was burnt. The suit slowly repaired itself as everything around me darkened. I didn't even hear the cries from everyone around me.

I saw Tali's silver eyes as everything disappeared.

X

_**...Scanning...Complete**_

_**Status:**_ _**Critical**_

_**Causes: Blood loss, concussion, multiple breaks and fractures, punctured lung, heart failing due to aftershock from explosion and blood loss. **_

_**Unknown force interveining...**_

_**Tissue and bone resturation increased. **_

_**Red blood cell production increased.**_

_**...**_

_**...**_

_**Tissue damage repaired. **_

_**Bone damage repaired.**_

_**Restarting Heart function...Defibrillator online...**_

X No One's POV X

Ashley had finished contacting Shepard and told her the situation. Xero laid motionless on the floor, Tali holding his hand while Wrex stood guard incase more Rachni came. "Shepard and the rest of the team are in another part of the facility." Ashley said coming over to them. "Anything?"

Tali ran her three fingers over Xero's scalp, hoping beyond all hope that his eyes opened again. "More of the same." she mumbled.

Xero's body suddently jerked making everyone jump back. "What the?" wondered Ashley. Xero's body jerked again. "It looks like he's being shocked." said Wrex. Xero jerked again. "Prophet's trying to restart his heart!" Tali shouted kneeling by Xero's head.

There was one more shock and Xero's eyes snapped open and he inhaled deeply. After taking a few deep breaths he started looking at everyone, "What happened?" Tali bent down and rested her visor on his forehead. "You bosht'et." she said with a slight whimper.

Xero reached up and caressed her vail, "It'll take more than that to kill me. I'm not going anywhere Tali." She leaned back and looked into his eyes.

"If you two are done coddling we gotta go. This place is still crawling with Rachni, and I'd rather not run into another one of those bigass ones." said Ashley.

Wrex helped Xero to his feet and helped him walk while Tali and Ashley lead the way. "Ballsy move kid. You would have made a decent Krogan." said the warlord. Xero chuckled, "Whatever you say there old man." Wrex let out a booming laugh as they headed back to where the Mako was stationed.

X Shepard's POV X

I looked at all the faces around me in the briefing room. After the mission was over there was a lot of emotions flying around.

Xero was still weak from the damage he sustained, he may have recovered thanks to Prophet, but the healing had left him drained. That being said Tali hadn't left his side since he entered the medbay.

I looked over at Wrex and I could feel the nearly uncontrolled fury in his gaze. I wouldn't kill the Rachni. I refuse to committ genocide on a race that was trying to redeem themselves. Whether Wrex liked it or not it was my call, not his.

Liara was sitting sadly in her seat. I couldn't blame her. We had killed her mother who had been turned by Saren's influence. Dispite all of that, Benezia was still Liara's mother, and this couldn't be easy for her.

Ezio sat next to her, holding her blue hand in his and whispering kind and peaceful things to her. He felt that he needed to. Conisidering he dealt the killing blow.

X Flashback X

_Benezia sent singularity after singularity at us. Me and Liara were doing all that we could to keep the Asari commandos and the Geth off our backs. "Where the hell is Ezio!" I shouted as I kept firing on the Matriach. _

_The last of Benezia's backup fell and we all faced her. "You will not succeed." she sneared. "Mother! Stop this please!" Liara pleaded. "I am sorry child. But this must be done." she charged her biotics and we all prepared to end it._

_A form dropped down behind her. "What-" She spun only for Ezio to jam his hidden wrist blade into her stomach. She gasped and her biotic field dropped. "Mother!" Liara shouted as she ran up to them._

_Ezio gently laid Benezia down, proping her head up on his knee. "Little wing." she whispered. "Mother?" asked Liara kneeling next to her. "I am...so sorry...Liara. I didn't want this to...happen. But Saren...and that ship...their whispers are in my mind. Even now." Liara held her mothers hand and started to cry._

_Benezia reached up and wiped the tears away. "Do not cry child. You have helped set me free." she looked down at me. "Commander Shepard. The Conduit...is beyond the Mu relay...in the Terminus systems. The exact location...I do not know." I gave a slow nod, "Thank you." _

_She looked up at Ezio who kept his face neutral, "Thank you, for setting me free. And allowing me to...say goodbye to my daughter. Please...take care of her." The assassin nodded. Benezia gazed at her daughter, "I will always love you...my little...wing..."_

_The elder Asari fell silent. Ezio laid her down and gently closed her eyes. "May you find peace in the next life, noble Matriach." he said silently. Liara sobbed at the death of her mother. Ezio knelt next to her and held her as she cried on his shoulder. _

_"I know what it is like to lose family. I promised your mother I would be there for you. I will honor that." he said gently._

X Flashback End X

I couldn't help but smile. For an assassin that was now misplaced in history, he was a kind and gentle soul.

"I think we're gonna need more chairs." Garrus said outloud earning a few chuckles. "Maybe a couch and a couple'o easy chairs and we'll be good." said Price. I cleared my throat, "In all seriousness, our mission on Noveria proved successful. We now know that the Conduit is beyond the Mu relay."

"Then lets go get it." said Emile. "I'm with him, we should go now that we have a heading." said Ashley.

"The Terminus systems are huge. It would take us forever to find it before Saren does. That and the Alliance, and even Council Spectres aren't permitted there." said Kaidan. "Than we find more data. We still have another stop afterall." said Yuri.

I nodded, "Both Kaidan and Yuri are right. We'll focus on getting all of the facts before going after the Conduit. Joker, plot a course for Feros." "Aye aye." replied the pilot. "Everyone get some rest, you've earned it."

Everyone filed out of the room, some heading for the mess hall while others went to the barracks or the sleeper pods. I let out a sigh before heading out of the room myself, deciding to go visit the couple who weren't at the briefing.

X

I walked into the medbay and saw Xero laying on one of the beds. His nano suit on one of the desks out of the way. I couldn't help but smile when I saw that Tali was laying down next to him, her head on his shoulder, arm drapped over his chest, and her legs crossed with his.

They looked peaceful, so I decided to leave them alone for now. To be honest, those two looked really cute together.

X Xero's POV X

It's been a week since the Noveria mission. And I couldn't help but feel happier than I ever have been. Being with Tali just made my life better just by her presence. And I felt at peace with everything around me.

And I wasn't the only one getting close to someone either. More often then naught I saw Soap and Ashley hanging out a lot more than just in the cargo hold. Garrus and Kat were talking more civily to each other instead of arguing about something. And I always seemed to find Ezio with Liara.

I wouldn't make assumptions, so I just filed it all in the very back of my mind for the time being.

At the moment I was working with Ashley trying to add modifications to my assault rifle. "Xero your needed on the bridge ASAP." said Joker over the intercom.

Without missing a beat I bolted to the elevator and hit the panel for the CIC. After the slow ascent I ran for the bridge and saw Kat and Emile standing with Shepard. Joker piloted us forward while Juno sat in the co-pilots spot next to him.

"I don't believe it." said Emile. I looked through the viewport and felt my heart freeze.

In the distance, was the oblong form of a Covenant Corvette.

**A/N: For those who have played Reach they know exactly how formidable a Corvette Class Covenant ship can be. But the real question is whether or not the Normandy crew can handle what might be on board? Reviews still valued.**


	9. New Ride

**A/N: Still on a damn big roll, so much so that I can't even think of anything clever to right in these notes. But this ain't about my not knowing what to write, it's about getting the next chapter to you guys. So here it is.**

**I own nothing**

Everyone was assembled in the briefing room again. But this time me, Kat and Emile were standing at the head of the room. The screen behind us showing the Covenant ship that we were now getting close to.

"So what's the situation?" asked Ashley. "The ship that we are now enroute to is a Corvette class Covenant ship. According to Joker, the engines are badly damaged but in the process of being repaired. We don't know why this thing is in this galaxy, but we need to make sure it doesn't escape." I said.

"That things as big as a dreadnaut. How much damaged could it cause if it reached a populated colony?" asked Kaidan overlooking the ship over. "This thing could glass an entire colony in a matter of minutes. And for good referance, this is the smallest class of ship in the Covenant fleet." said Emile. Everyone went wide eyed and shook a little.

Shepard addressed us, "What should we expect on board?" Kat took over from there. "There are many species in the Covenant ranks." the screen showed an image on an Elite. "The Elite's are the ones in command. Their intelligent, quick, and some have active camoflage making them stealthy as well."

An image of a Brute appeared. "Brutes are mostly muscle, but very strong and formidable. A berserking Brute could knock around a squad of Marines with little effort." The look in Wrex's eyes turned fierce, he saw a challenge.

The image changed showing a Skirmisher and a Jackel. "Skirmishers and Jackels are cousins from each other. The Skirmishers are fast and agile, and are prone to use long range weaponry. The Jackels use energy shields and usually make barriers making it difficult to shoot what is behind them."

Next came an image of a Grunt. "Grunts are the Covenant's cannon fodder. Their weak individually, but pose a threat in large groups. They are forced to wear a special mask and pack so they can breath in methane since their bodies can't accustom to actual oxygen."

Kat looked to everyone in the room, "The Covenant use plasma based weaponry. I don't know how well your barriers and armor will handle them, but be on guard at all times."

Everyone glanced at one another for a few moments. "What's the plan?" asked Heller. "Everyone is going in." I said stepping back in. "We are pulling out all of the stops on this. There will be two teams; Shepard and I will lead the first, Kat and Emile the second. We know the most about what the Covenant can dish out, so Shepard has allowed us control of this mission."

Shepard stood up then. "Yuri, Ash, Wrex, Tali, Soap and Liara will be with us in team one. We will head to the bridge. The rest of you are with team two. Head to the engineering deck and secure it. We aren't taking any chances on this people, be ready for a fight. We cannot let that ship reach a populated area."

Everyone got up and went to prepare. Shepard glanced at me, "What are our chances?" I sighed, "Me and Jorge crippled that Corvette with a squad of Marines, and took out a shit load of Covenant on the inside. As long as we stay alert, we should do alright."

She nodded and went to prepare as well. "You think he's on that thing?" asked Emile. "One can hope Emile." I said leaving the room with them in tow.

X

Joker managed to get us all close enough to the ship to board it safely. Once inside everyone looked around in awe. "This...I can't even begin to describe this..." said Kaidan. "Spirits, this has to be the most advanced ship in the Traverse. None of the ships out there are even close to being like this." said Garrus.

"Time to split up." I said getting their attention, "Me, Kat and Emile know the layout of this kind of ship really well. Be ready for anything, who knows what these bastards might throw at us."

We sepearated into our designated groups. Mine and Shepard's team began the uneasy trek to the bridge. "Signs of fighting." said Ashley pointing out the bullet holes, plasma burns and blood. "Yeah. Lost some good men trying to take the bridge the first time." I said lowly.

The place was quiet. Save for the light hum of the various equipment around us. "Team two check in." said Shepard. "Nothing on our end. How about you guys?" asked Emile. "Nada, where do you think they are?" I asked. "Best guess, probably holed up on the decks we're heading to. Stay frosty guys." said Emile ending the link.

"What could be worse than aliens capable of killing you when you least expect it?" wondered Soap. "Expecting it, and unable to stop it." said Liara.

"Contact!" shouted Ashley. We all snapped to attention and aimed our weapons in the direction she was pointing. Something hid behind a weapon crate ahead of us. We waited, breathing held as we prepared for what came out.

Slowly, a light blue and pink tentacle came out and grabbed the side of the crate. I started to lower my weapon, "Wait! Put your guns down." I said making everyone looked at me shocked. "Trust me." I said laying my rifle on the floor. Hesitantly, the others followed.

A light blue snake-like head with six black eyes came around the crate and looked at us. Then the rest of it's bulbous form appeared. "What in Keelah..." Tali said in awe.

The Engineer slowly floated to us, head tilting from side to side trying to understand what we were. I removed my helmet and set it down, "Easy fella, we're not gonna hurt you." I said softly. The Engineer made an echoing sound in response.

I reached out with my hand. The floating pink creature shrunk back making me pause. Slowly, the Engineer reached it's head out and I stroked it making it coo happily. "He means us no harm. This is an Engineer. Their race was enslaved by the Covenant to make repairs to their ships and technology. Their like living databanks, anything and everything you would want to know about the Covenant is right inside this guy's head." I said still petting it.

Shepard reached out and the Engineer looked at her before allowing her to pet him as well. "He's kinda cute. But man he stinks." said Ashley covering her nose. "Thats the understatement of the year." said Soap cringing. The Engineer looked over at Tali and hovered over to her.

It's tentacles reached out and slowly caressed the sides over her visor. "Xero." She said quivering a little. "It's okay Tali. He's just figuring out what you are." The creature examined her visor and helmet for a moment before hovering over to Wrex.

"What are you looking at gasbag?" he grunted out. The Engineer tilted it's head, then reached out and took his shotgun and started to disassemble it. "Hay!" Wrex went to draw his pistol, "Wrex wait!" I shouted. After the creature tinkered with the inside of the weapon, it put it back together and handed it back to the warlord.

Wrex looked it over a second. "I've been having trouble with the heat sink injector in this thing for a while now. How did he..." "Their a quick learning race Wrex." I said smirking.

The Engineer floated over to Liara who smiled at it. She held out her blue hand, the creature looked at it before pressing it's tentacle against it, cooing happily before floating back over to me and Shepard and tilted it's head.

"Do you think he can lead us to the bridge?" she asked. I looked at the creature, "How bout it little guy. Can you take us there?" It made a kind of squeeking sound before turning around and floating down the corridor. It looked back at us before going forward again. "He wants us to follow." said Liara.

We began following it, I activated my comm. "Kat, Emile, we've encountered an Engineer." "Same on our end...you won't believe this." said Kat. "Try me." I replied.

My omni-tool came on showing a vid screen of what my fellow Spartans were looking at. Inside of what looked like a store room, was a large collection of purple and pink eggs lining the floor. Above them, a few Engineers floated keeping watch. "This is unbelievable." said Kaidan from the screen. Garrus was starring with his mandables out wide as another Engineer examined him.

"Remember guys, their not hostile. They could actually help us in the long run if we need it." I said. "Got it. Good luck out there." said Price as the link ended.

I looked up and saw our Engineer infront of me examining my omni-tool curiously. Running it's tentacles over the orange projection for a moment, it turned and continued to lead us to the bridge.

X

I was starting to get confused and concerned. We traversed the whole length of the ship and hadn't found a single Covenant soldier the whole way. Not even bodies. But there were signs of combat, both recent and old.

Soap bent down and dabbed his hand in the small pool of neon blue blood, "It's fresh. Not even a day or so old." he said wiping it off on his armor.

"What's this?" asked Tali. She had picked up a small device that was laying in the corner of the room we were passing through. I looked it over before smirking, "I'll show you." I took the device and fastened it to her forearm. "Now, hit that red button that's on it."

Tali looked at the device and hit the button. A glowing blue shield suddenty snapped into existance making everyone jump a little. "It's a Jackel's energy shield. Annoying when they use it. Effective when we do." I said smiling as Tali looked the shield over before deactivating it.

"Over here!" shouted Liara. She stood by a locked door with the Engineer while it disengaged the lock. The center of the door turned from red to blue and slid open. We readied our weapons and made sure the Engineer was out of harms way before storming into the bridge.

All of the terminals were activated and glowing. No bodies and no Covenant. "This doesn't make sense." said Shepard. I looked across the room and saw the hovering Captain's chair positioned away from us, something was in it. Drawing my pistol, I slowly crept up to it. "Alright split lip, turn around or I'll blow what brains you have out of your head."

"You wouldn't hurt a brother now." the chair spun around, "Would you?"

I yanked my helmet off to make sure I wasn't hallucinating, "Jorge!" The large Spartan stood up, his armor caked in dried Covenant blood. "It's good to see you again Six." He looked passed me at the rest of the team. "I think I need to be filled in." I nodded, "We'll have to gather the rest of the team."

He raised an eyebrow, "There are others?" "Yeah, Kat and Emile are with them." I said smirking. "Good to hear you all made it. What about Jun and Carter?" I sighed, "Jun stayed behind on Reach to protect mom. Carter...didn't make it."

Jorge blew out a small breath, "He is at peace." I activated my comm, "Kat, Emile, get up here to the bridge with everyone else. I think your gonna love who we found."

X

When we all regrouped on the bridge Kat and Emile were glad to see Jorge alive and well. Apparently after the ship imploded it was sucked into this universe from the rift it made. Being the only Spartan on board he wiped out all the remaining Covenant resistance that was left, he was the only one alive on the whole ship except for the Engineers.

After filling Jorge in on the events that occured after he vanished. The _Normandy's_ crew came onto the ship and could only stare in wonder at everything around them. It was like watching little kids going to a museum for the first time.

Joker was looking around the bridge in complete awe. "Man...this things better than my baby!" he said from the captain's chair. Dana was sitting in one of the chairs in the front of the room, "Very advanced. Although it's hard to understand the insignias."

"You'll get use to them. Understanding Covenant tech is one field I was able to understand. I'll just have to create a deciphering program for our omni-tools." said Kat from another terminal.

"What's the rundown Jorge?" I asked. "The ship's almost completely repaired. The Engineers have been working hard to fix the damage that occured during the fight." he replied. "But the shields, weapons and slipspace drive are all online."

"Armory?" I asked which caught Garrus, Wrex and Ashley's attention. Jorge smirked, "Fully stocked." he said leading us down a corridor and into a very large room with weapons lining the walls and multiple weapon crates everywhere. "Damn!" Ashley shouted looking each of the alien weapons individualy.

Garrus picked up a needle rifle and looked down the sights. "Impressive." He said checking the needle canisters that were it's ammo. Wrex hefted a Brute gravity hammer, "Heh, these freaks really knew how to make weapons."

I looked around the room impressed. "Any surprises in the cargo hold?" "Three phantoms and four banshees." Jorge replied as we went back to the bridge. "I also managed to get the three surviving Sabers and the one pelican into the hanger."

"Sounds like a well equiped vessel." said Shepard coming over to join us. "And it's ours." said Emile. "He's right, we can't leave this kind of thing for mercs or pirates to get ahold of. And we need all the help we can get against Saren." I said in honesty.

"What about the _Normandy_?" asked Joker. "There are gravity teathers that can attatch to another ship to hold it in place. We can bring the _Normandy _with us." said Kat from her position. I looked at her, "How long before she can fly?"

"At the rate the Engineers are going, combined with the efforts of the _Normandy's_ crew, two days." she replied. Shepard thought for a few moment's, "Alright. Let's get to it. But we'll need to take it slow sense we don't understand the Covenant's technology."

I smirked, "That's why you got us Commander." I looked back at Kat. "What's the name of this boat anyway?" She did a brief search, "_Spirit of Solace"_

X Tali's POV X

I couldn't begin to explain how amazing this ship's engines were. Me and the rest of the engineer team from the _Normandy_ were learning what we could from the Engineers. The creatures may not have smelled...decent. But they were innocent, and I couldn't help but find them cute and very helpful.

Currently I was working on a terminal that was connected to the slipspace drive. It was unbelieveable, a way to travel from system to system without the use of mass relays. Any ship manurfacturing company in the Traverse would kill to have this technology.

It was a good thing Kat had reprogrammed everyone's onmi-tools to decipher the Covenant's language to make it easier on us.

I heard a low coo next to me and saw the Engineer that we first met after coming on board. "Hello." I said petting the side of his long head. The creature seemed to purr at the attention. For some reason he had made a bond with me, it followed me everywhere helping me where it could.

Before I could go back to work, I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. "Hay Tali. Working hard?" I smiled at the sound of Xero's voice. "Yes. This technology is beyond anything anyone has ever dreamed of. The fact that it is now at our fingertips is exilerating." I said feeling excited.

Xero chuckled. "I got you something." he said sweetly. "Oh? And what is that?" I asked smiling. One of his hands left mine and came back infront of me holding an OSD. "I had Kat download the skimatics for Covenant weaponry, shielding, and slipspace drives into this. I thought it would make a good pilgramige gift."

My heart beated faster as I held the data files in my hands. "X-Xero! This is..." I spun around and hugged him tightly. He chuckled and wrapped his arms around me, "I thought you would like it."

It was then I was struck with fear and sorrow. Xero felt it and pulled back to look at me, "Tali? What's wrong?" Tears started to fill my eyes. "My...pilgramige is complete. After the mission with Saren...I have to return to the Migrant fleet." Xero held me again as I started ro sob.

"Hay, it's alright. No matter what happens, I'll still be here for you. We'll figure something out." he said with warmth. I looked up into his eyes, cursing my visor for being in the way. I wanted to confess everything to him. Give him my heart, my soul, everything. Xero was such a kind and gentle soul. I may sound selfish...but I can't stand to think of what would happen if he wasn't here with me.

Our eyes remained locked. It felt as though we were peaking through into each other's souls. I would tell him...hopefully soon. I'd find a way to get out of this suit. I wanted to feel his skin on mine, his lips on mine.

Our moment was broken by the sound of odd clicks. We looked over and saw the Engineer looking at us curiously with it's head tilted to the side. We couldn't help but laugh.

X No One's POV X

Two days had passed quickly, and the _Spirit of Solace_ was ready for space travel once again. Joker and the _Nomandy _crew went back down to the other ship to make sure nothing bad happened when they attempted a slipspace jump.

On the _Solace's_ bridge. The team had all gathered and prepared themselves for the jump. "Everything's green across the board." said Kat. "Coordinates for Feros locked in. Slipspace drive activated." said Juno. She had been a quick study with learning to pilot the large ship, and she was more than prepared for it.

Shepard sat in the captain's chair with Xero standing next to her grinning. "Slipspace drive activating in three." "Everyone better hang tight." said Emile chuckling. "Two." "This better not damaged the _Normandy_." said Joker over a comm link. "One."

The nose of the ship started to spark. A portal of pure energy started to envelop the vessel before it blasted into the void with speed that trumpted the mass relays.

Everyone on the bridge starred at the slipspace tunnel outside the ship. "How long before we reach Feros?" asked Shepard. "The destination marks the time it'll take to get there." said Kat. "And since we were already close to Feros to begin with, we should arrive-" Xero was cut off when the ship came out of slipspace and showed the planet before them. "Now." he finished with a smirk.

Kat hit a few buttons, "Joker, how's everything on the _Normandy_?" she asked. It was silent for a moment. "That shit was awesome!" he exclaimed. They all couldn't help but laugh.

X Xero's POV X

After everyone except for a handful of crew members got back on the _Redemption_, Shepard looked at the planet Feros through the large viewport. "Zhu's Hope, this is the _SSV Normandy_ requesting a landing zone." said Joker at the communications terminal.

Their response was static. "Zhu's Hope this is the _Normandy_ please respond." again static. "Comms must be down." said Heller.

Me and Shepard were looking at the holographic display of the planet that was in the center of the room. I couldn't help but feel dread creep up my spine. I know what we were _suppose_ to expect down there. But something felt wrong...very wrong.

"We should go in on the pelican. Quick and mobile is the best course of action." said Kat, Shepard nodded. "Alright, Xero, Kat, Wrex, Jorge, Ash and Heller meet in the hanger."

"Looks like we're going right back into the fight." said Jorge hefting his heavy gun. It was amazing that the combined efforts of Kat, Soap and Ashley had made the thing adaptable with a large internal heat sink. But it still needed to be tested to checkout what it could do. What better time than now?

We all assembled by the pelican as Shepard started the brief rundown. "Since we lost all comms with the colony, our first objective is to re-establish contact with them and find out what is going on. We'll go on from there." With collective nods we all piled into the dropship.

Kat took the pilot's seat and activated the thrusters. I jumped into the co-pilot seat just as we pulled out of the _Solace's_ hanger and headed for the planet below.

"Commander, we may have lost contact but we're picking up some very strange lifesigns on the surface." said Joker. "What kind of lifesigns?" asked Shepard. "That's just it, their not reading back anything that is known. Becareful down there." said the pilot.

That feeling of dread came back. "Bad feeling?" asked Kat. "More than bad. Kat...I don't think we're going to like what we find." I said lowly. I still couldn't explain it, but something felt off about all of this.

X

After making it through the atmosphere, Kat flew the pelican into the docking area of the colony and touched down on one of the platforms. The hatch opened and we all filed out weapons ready.

Immediately, we all knew something was off.

Green fog seemed to be everywhere making it hard for us to see. Everyone pulled on their helmets to be safe before we continued on. "What is all of this?" asked Ashley. "Hell if I know. But we need to find the colony, so lets move." said Shepard

We treked through the fog, being careful not to trip or fall over something. My foot kicked something. I bent down and saw shocked to see a Geth Trooper. The thing had been torn to shreads, it's metal body looking like tin foil being torn outward. "What happened to it?" asked Shepard.

Jorge knelt down and looked it over, "Something strong tore into it pretty good." He looked next to it's body and we spotted a pool of dark green blood. "What ever attacked it got hurt though." he said standing back up.

The sound of footsteps caused us to raise our weapons. A man came running to us from the fog, he was battered and bleeding from multiple wounds. But he ran as though the devil was after him.

"You have to get out of here! The monsters are everywhere!" My eyes widened at the nostalgia of those words.

Suddently, a small green form latched onto the man's chest. "NO! NO PLEASE KILL ME!" He screamed as the small thing burrowed into his chest and forcing him to the ground.

We all watched in horror as the man's body began to twist and rip. Large clawed appendages burst from his arms and tentacles tore from his chest. His head violently snapped to the side.

The thing he had become staggered to his feet and turned to us. I heard Shepard and Ashley gasp in horror and disgust. The creature staggered to us, it's appendages swaying from side to side.

It let out a loud shreak-like roar before charging us.

Our weapons roared as the slugs ripped through the thing's flesh. It's arms were blown off but it kept coming. Wrex pulled his shotgun and blasted it in the chest blowing chunks across the ground. It staggered a bit, then collapsed onto the ground.

Ashley ripped off her helmet and puked off to the side. "What the fuck is that thing!" she screamed afterward. Me and Kat examined the body, exchanging a knowing glance. "What is it?" asked Shepard.

"We need to get out of here." I said standing. "What about the-" "NOW!" I roared cutting Shepard off and started running back to the pelican, the others right on my heels.

We didn't make twenty feet before I made a dead stop.

A large group of the creatures formed a wall between us and the pelican. I heard the others activating their weapons behind me. "What are they?" asked Wrex. I gripped my assault rifle tightly, before speaking the two words that terrified me to the core.

"The Flood."

**A/N: Guess everyone's getting in on the interdimensional party. Next update around the corner.**


	10. The Flood

**A/N: Like many in this site, I fully believe that the three endings to ME3 left a lot to be desired. That's why I full intend on making an ending in which everything works out the way it's suppose to.**

**The fight against the Flood begins now. So be set for a hell of a rid. (I own nothing)**

The phrase 'mexican stand off' just didn't quite cover our current situation. The line of ten Flood combat forms and roughly twelve Infection forms stood infront of us like a mutated barricade. "Can we take them?" asked Shepard. "There are only ten. We stand a good chance. Just don't let the tiny ones latch onto you. Or you'll become one of them." I said back.

Wrex grabbed his new gravity hammer off his back. Jorge gripped his weapon tighter. Heller brought out his claws. And me, Kat, Shepard and Ashley readied our weapons.

"CHILDREN OF MY ENEMY, WHY HAVE YOU COME? I OFFER NO FORGIVENESS FOR THIS INTRUSION." all of the combat forms said in the same deep rumbling voice. The whole team looked shocked. "The real question it what the hell are you doing here Gravemind!" I shouted.

The forms all chuckled darkly. "I CANNOT BE DEFEATED. THE FORERUNNERS WERE FOOLISH, MUCH LIKE YOU ARE NOW." "What did you do with the colonists?" demanded Shepard. The Gravemind laughed through it's puppets, "THEY HAVE JOINED THEIR VOICES WITH MINE. WE ARE ONE IN THE SAME."

"Shepard. The Gravemind is the Flood's hivemind. He controls them all because they are nothing more than his puppets. The colonists are dead." I said while I had Prophet scan for tactical options.

"Your not getting away with this!" yelled Ashley. "IMPUTENT WELPS! I HAVE DESTROYED FLEETS OF THOUSANDS. RIDDING THE GALAXY OF FLESH, AND MIND, AND BONE!" We prepared to fight, "We're not going end up like your fucked up errand boys." said Heller.

The Gravemind laughed through the combat forms, "YOU WILL BE FOOD. NOTHING MORE." With that they attacked.

Wrex charged forward and slammed the gravity hammer down. The shockwave it caused sent three of the combat forms crashing to the ground and walls. Heller slashed the creatures that lept at him to pieces while making sure that the smaller infection forms didn't get to close.

Ashley and Kat were emptying their weapons taking out the arms and legs of the combat forms and taking out the infectious forms before they could get close. Jorge powered up his gun and literally tore the abominations apart with a hail of slugs.

Me and Shepard stood back to back firing at anything that was green. One combat form broke through our lines and went after Shepard. Her omni-blade sprang into existance and she sliced the thing in half right down the middle.

I put my rifle away and drew the two energy swords I had on me. The fork shaped blades hacked through the Flood's mutated skin as though it wasn't even there. The smell of burn, rotten flesh filled the air.

The fight was over in a matter of seconds, and all that was left of the combat forms were batterd, torn, and sliced into pieces all over the place. "Thoughtless abominations!" Wrex roared spitting on the corpse of one he had killed.

"We need to get off the planet and rethink our strategy." said Shepard leading the way back to our waiting pelican. "...Please! is any one out there?...We need assistance, our barriers won't hold long against...these...monsters!...Please help us!"

The whole team looked at each other as the transmission ended. "We can't leave those people to die." said Ashley. Shepard thought a minute before activating her comm, "Joker, can you find the location of that transmission?"

"Yeah, but are you sure you wanna go in there? Those zombie things definately are something that would require more than a group of six." replied the pilot. "We're not leaving them to die helmsmen. Do you have the coordinates?"

We heard Joker sigh, "Their located in a Prothean structure about five clicks from your location along the skyway." "Thanks Joker." said Shepard, she ended the link and looked at me. "Xero, you know these creatures. What else can we expect?"

I activated my omni-tool. "The Flood is a parasitic lifeform discovered by the Forerunners. The Flood, even for being a parasite, is very strong and intelligent. They infected a majority of the Forerunners, gathering their intelligence along with their bodies for their army."

"So this thing gather the intelligence of it's victims?" said Ashley. I nodded. "Do they know how to fly ships?" asked Wrex. I gave them a look and they all gasped. "They can't get off this planet! If they reach another colony, or worse the Citadel..." Shepard trailed off.

"There will be no stopping them." I said gravely. My omni-tool showed images of the multiple Flood forms. "You've already seen the infection form and the combat form. Which leaves only a couple more." The screen showed a Flood form that was bulbous and had two small legs and tentacles. "This is a carrier. Becareful because they explode and send out roughly seven infectors."

The image changed showing three seperate forms. "This is a pure form. It has the ability to shape-shift into three seperate forms. One for defense, offense, and speed. They also have the ability to shoot infectors from their mouths."

"What about this fucking Gravemind?" asked Heller. "The Gravemind is formed after the Flood have gathered enough intelligence and biomass to form it. It's intelligent, cunning, and very formidable. The only known record of one being seen was by Master Chief Spartan 117." I said finishing my little presentation.

Shepard formulated a plan. "Kat, I need you to pilot the pelican until we make an LZ to pick up the colonists. The five of us will head toward the location and link up with the survivors." Kat nodded and got into the pelican. "Lets move people. We have a lot of ground to cover, and I don't think those parasites will make it easier for us." said Shepard.

The pelican took off into the foggy skies as we started toward the skyway. "It's too quiet." said Jorge. "Yet I can't help but feel we're being watched." Wrex nodded, "Not even the Rachni were this...disturbing." I looked over at Ashley and saw her quivering a little bit.

I put my hand on her shoulder making her eyes snap over to me, "Relax Ash. We got each other's backs." I said strongly. She took a deep breath and nodded.

After a little ways, we began to see growths on the walls and ceilings of the corridors we were traveling through. "What are these things?" asked Shepard aiming at a fleshy bubble that was pulsing. "Don't touch it. Those things are full of infectors." I said as we moved on.

A tentacle burst from the wall making us jump. Shepard snapped out her omni-blade and sliced it off the wall. "This is looking pretty fucking bad." said Heller looking at the walls in digust. "You don't have a clue. This is a cake walk in comparison to what we will encounter." I said gravely. "Don't you mean 'might' encounter?" asked Shepard leading again.

I stayed silent, and they all got the message.

X

Zhu's Hope...could only be discribed as pure hell. Human bones were scattered here and there. Growths covered the buildings and the ground. And worst of all, it was completely silent...like a grave.

"This...this is horrible." said Shepard. Wrex kicked a pile of bones aside, "These humans didn't diserve this."

I looked down and saw a datapad sticking out of the ground. Bending down, I grabbed it and yanked it out of the fleshy growth. "Looks like the colonists were doing just fine a week ago." I said reading through it. "You mean all of this happened in the span of one week?" asked Ashley. I nodded and clicked through the datapad, "Apparently, two weeks ago a ship crashed on the planet close to the Exogeni building down the skyway. When they went to investigate..."

I paused...I couldn't believe what I was seeing. "Six?" asked Jorge. Shepard came over and looked at the datapad. On the screen, was the image of the ship's wreckage. But it wasn't just any ship.

"_Forward Unto Dawn_." I whispered. It was unbelieveable! The wreckage of the UNSC ship was looking me right in the face. "It's a UNSC frigate. It was also the last ship known to have Master Chief on it."

Jorge perked up. "You think John's still on board?" "Maybe...but if the Flood came here on the same ship things will be difficult. At least we have a way to stop the infestation." Shepard looked at me, "What do you mean?"

I sighed, she wasn't going to like this. "If the _Damn's_ engine core is still active, even just a little, overloading it and causing it to explode will wipe out the Flood here on Feros." Shepard's look turned from aghast, to anger. "I know what your thinking Shepard. But it's either we loose this colony. Or risk losing the rest of the planet and more if they managed to get off world."

The Commander sighed, "We'll worry about that when the time comes. Right now let's get to the survivors." Before we started moving, a loud shreaking-roar echoed through the silent colony. "Shit." said Heller bringing out his blade.

Through the fog, multiple shapes were seen leaping ontop of the buildings. Our weapons were ready as the first of the Flood started attacking.

We mostly used our shotguns, the power and the wide blast radius blew sizable chunks off of the combat forms before they could reach us. Jorge's gun was firing full blast into the fog, the sounds of the slugs tearing through flesh could easily be heard.

A pure Flood came through in it's speed form before morphing into it's massive defense form. Wrex roared and charged it with his hammer ready. The pure form just roared and slammed the warlord aside with one of it's large arms.

A combat form lept down behind us and slashed out with one of it's tentacles. The appendage passed right through Ashley's shield and put a deep gash into the chestplate of her armor. I spun and rammed my fist into the creature's chest and crushing the infection form within.

Shepard threw a volley of grenades that blew several of them apart, but they still kept coming. "There's too many of them." she shouted to the rest of us. Wrex slammed the bladed end of his gravity hammer into a pure form nearly slicing it in half.

Heller was spinning in wide circles, his large blade hacking and slashing through the combat forms like a deranged chainsaw. I had a feeling he felt like he was back in NYZ all over again.

I dumped another heat sink and slammed in a new one. Things weren't looking good. No matter how many we killed, more kept coming. "Shepard where's the skyway!" I shouted knocking a combat form aside with the butt of my shotgun.

"Behind us!" she shouted back. She pulled out a plasma grenade she got from the _Solace's_ armory and rammed it down a pure form's throat before diving away as it exploded in a cloud of gore.

I looked over my shoulder, the doorway that lead to the skyway was blocked by a thin membrane of growth. "Cover me!" I shouted running to the covered opening. I pulled out an energy sword and started hacking my way through the thin tissue.

The other's kept the Flood off my back. Jorge had to shoulder his heavy gun because it was severly overheated, now he was using two Brute maulers he had gotten from the ship.

Ashley shot a carrier which exploded, knocking several combat forms off their feet but sent a small wave of infectors at us. Luckily, since they were weak, they were dispatched easily with a few well placed rounds.

I made it through the small barrier and called to the rest of the team, "It's open let's go!" They didn't waste time running through the opening. I pulled out two plasma grenade's and primed them before dropping them outside the opening.

When I caught up to the others, I heard the loud explosion followed by a roar of anger.

X

We managed to get to the garage a little while later. Thankfully there wasn't any growth inside, and no Flood as far as I could see.

Wrex and Jorge sealed the door leading back to the colony and stacked heavy crates against it to block the way. "It won't hold for long." said Jorge. We headed toward the only working Mako in the room.

Heller shifted his arm to normal as he glared at where we came from, "This shits looking way too fucking familiar to me." Ashley popped out of the Mako's hatch and joined us, "It still works. Though I don't know what will happen when we pull out of here."

I pushed my comm, "Kat, what's your status?" "I'm close to the LZ location, but I can't tell if it is secure enough to land." "Don't worry we're almost there. We'll flag you down when the place is secured." I replied. "Got it. Becareful down there guys."

When the link ended there was a large crash against the barricaded door. "Time to go." I said as we all lept into the Mako. Shepard grabbed the controls while Wrex jumped into the gun as we drove off to the exit.

The problem was that the main door was closed, and looked to be locked. "Shit, now what?" said Ashley. I popped the hatch and jumped out, sprinting over to the control terminal. "Xero whatever your doing do it quick!" shouted Jorge.

I brought up my omni-tool and started hacking into the terminal. The door behind us burst open and the Flood started pouring into the garage. Wrex spun the Mako's cannon around and started blasting away at the coming tide.

The terminal was giving me trouble, but I managed to undo three of the five lockdown programs. "Xero!" shouted Shepard over the comms. "Working on it!" I shouted back as I continued to run through the programs.

Four locks down.

A combat form managed to get through Wrex's assault and ran at me. I spun around with my handcannon out and blew several holes in it before turning back to the terminal. "Almost...got it!"

The large door opened and the Mako started to go forward. Ignoring the large wave of Flood, I ran as fast as the suit would allow me to. I caught up to the Mako and lept up onto it's roof before getting back inside. "That was cutting it too close." I said leaning back in my seat. "Thats an understatement." said Ashley.

The Mako roared down the skyway. We could see Flood growths at various points along the large stretch of road. "Their even covering the Prothean ruins." said Shepard looking at the old structures around us. Heller watched as well, and I could tell that he was having a few flashbacks of what happened in New York Zero.

"We got company!" shouted Wrex from the turret. Ahead of us, Flood pure forms lined the walls in their turret like offensive forms. In moment's, the creatures fired a volley of spikes that bounced off of our shields and armor.

Shepard gunned the engine while Wrex tried to pick off as many of the pure forms as he could. Infront of us, Flood combat forms charged the Mako but were rundown by the vehicle's large wheels.

One of the combat forms latched onto the side of the Mako and started hammering away at the armor. I popped open the roof hatch and fired my shotgun. The blast blowing the combat form right off of the Mako.

'Xero?" called Shepard. "Just keep driving!" I shouted back down sealing the hatch. I stood on the roof safely away from the cannon's rotation and had my shotgun ready.

Another combat form latched onto the vehicle and wasted no time blasting it off. Another one managed to crawl ontop of the Mako, but I gave it a hard kick launching it off.

A loud thud resounded behind me. I turned and saw a pure form in it's speed stage before it morphed into it's defensive stage. "A shit." The creature roared and slammed it's large arm down. I rolled to the side dodging it but there was little space to manuver.

I didn't have time to draw my energy swords, so I held my shotgun in my right hand and activated my omni-blade in the other. The pure form attacked again. I lashed out with my omni-blade slicing it's arm off before blasting it in the 'face' with my shotgun.

The creature recoiled, but simply grew it's lost limb back and went on the assault again. I fired my shotgun again and again until it overheated and jammed. It swung it's arm, but I dove and rolled between it's legs, slicing it's left leg off at the knee as I passed.

I heard someone pounding on the ceiling of the Mako inside. I looked ahead and saw a pillar that had fallen down onto the skyway. I looked back at the pure form before jumping off the roof and grabbing onto a handhold on the side of the Mako.

The pure form had enough time to look ahead just as the low pillar slammed into it and sent if flying off of the vehicle. I let out a breath before getting back ontop of the Mako and opened the hatch.

Suddently, my left leg exploded with pain. _**"Warning. Suit Breached!"**_ Prophet alerted. I looked down and saw a spike sticking through my thigh. Ignoring it, I jumped back down inside.

"You alright?" asked Ashley. I grabbed onto the spike and yanked it out of my leg allowing for the suit and my body to heal."Yeah...just peachy." I muttered.

X

We managed to reach the location where the transmission had come from. We stopped the Mako, which had mutliple spikes sticking out of the armor along with severe dents and scratches.

The moment we got out, I caught sight of two warthogs and a mongoose ATV. "Guess they've been using the hardware from the ship." said Jorge. "Not hard to believe. They must have made due with whatever they could find." said Wrex.

We walked past the makeshift barricades and past the fully armed guards that were using UNSC weaponry and into a room where over a dozen people were gathered. "You...your not one of them." said an Asari approaching us. "We recieved your transmission. We're here to help." said Shepard.

"Thank the goddess." she said relieved. "My name is Shiala. We've been trapped here by those...things for days. They killed the colonists, turning them into more creatures."

"Their called the Flood. And believe me, your lucky to be alive." I said looking at the other survivors. "What was an Asari doing on a human colony?" asked Ashley. Shiala looked hesitant, then sighed, "I was working with Saren and Lady Benezia. They came here in search of a creature called the Thorian. A planet being that was capable of controlling the mind's of others through it's spores."

"But when we arrived. Those things had the colony overrun. But Saren...he just walked through them as though they weren't there. We found the Thorian surrounded by the creatures, standing guard."

"What was the importance of the Thorian?" asked Shepard. "It contained the Prothean cipher. A way for Saren to understand the Prothean language and history. And help make sense of the beacon that was implanted into his mind. He had me meld with it, then meld with him to give him the cipher."

Shiala looked stricken, "After it was over...the creatures attacked the Thorian. Infecting it...Saren left me for dead." She looked at all of us. "I used my biotics to stay alive, and saved as many people as I could."

"If the Flood have allied themselves with Saren and the Reapers we're in a lot more trouble than we originally thought." I said gravely.

"What about the ship that crashed?" asked Jorge. The Exogeni scientist sighed, "It crashed here over a week ago. The amount of technology, weapons and vehicles inside were to good to be true. Then one day...they just started pouring out. Infecting anything that was alive or dead. Not even the Geth stood a chance against them." "Guess they'll spare Saren, but not his guards." snorted Wrex.

Shepard looked around, "Is this everyone." Another woman approached wairing a Exogeni lab coat. "There were 20 of us when we first got here..." she said holding her daughter close. Shepard activated her comm, "Kat, we found the survivors." "Copy that Commander, making my approach." replied Kat.

"Alright everyone, we have a dropship inbound to pick us up. So gather what belongings you can and get ready for dustoff." The survivors immediately started scrambling to get ready. "It isn't much, but at least we were able to save some of them." said Ashley. "It's better than no one at all." said Jorge.

X

Luckily there was a platform on the outside of the Prothean structure big enough for the pelican to land. Me and Ashley looked into the foggy skies and saw Kat coming in. "There she is." said Ashley.

"We got problems back here!" shouted Wrex over the comms, gunfire and shreaks sounding in the background. I looked at Ash as the survivors started running out of the building. "Get them on the ship, we'll cover you." I said running back inside.

At the barricade, Shepard, Jorge, Wrex and Heller were working with the guards to try and hold back the Flood as they began pounding on the barricades. Heller swept his whipfist over the barricade slicing several of the creatures and forcing them back.

The various Flood forms roared in pain but continued to pound away. Shepard primed grenades and threw them over the makeshift walls while Me and Jorge fired everything we had through gaps to try and lower their numbers.

"Commander, the survivors are all onboard. Now would probably be a good time to leave!" shouted Ashley. "Everyone fall back!" Shepard ordered. We about faced and ran back into the structure. A moment later the barricades behind us collapsed and the Flood started flowing in.

"Stand clear!" Heller shouted as he fired a barrage of tendrils from his arms. The small limbs latching onto the combat forms and branching off grabbing everything around them. In an instant all of the debris and equipment shot back inward in a shuddering explosion.

With the way clear, we all double timed it back to where the LZ was located and the colonists had just finished loading onto the pelican. "Guys we gotta go before more Flood show up." Kat said from the cockpit.

We had just stepped into the troop compartment when the ground started to rumble, we all looked around. "What the hell is that? A quake?" asked Ashley. My eyes widened in horror. "No..."

Large tentacles suddently burst from the ground and stretched into the sky, and with them, a dark bellowing laugh echoed through the area. "We gotta get out of here!" Jorge roared as Kat punched it.

One of the tentacles struck the side of the pelican. Ashley lost her footing and tumbled out of the still open hatch. I lept and caught her just before should could plummet back down. "Gotcha Ash!" I shouted bringing her back on board.

Shepard's eyes widened, "Xero!" I felt it before I saw it. A long skinny tentacle wrapped around my leg and yanked me off the ship. Tumbling through the air, I managed to brace myself. _**Maximum Armor."**_ I flipped around and landed back on the platform feet first, making a crater in the stone floor.

"Xero we're coming back to get you!" said Shepard through the comms. "Negative Commander! That thing will rip you out of the sky! Get back to the _Solace_, I'll be okay." I said back. "Xero-" "Dammit Shepard get everyone out of here! I know what I'm doing! Trust me!" I shouted.

She sighed, "Alright, you better come back alive soldier." I smirked, "I don't intend to die here Shepard." The line ended after that.

"NOW THE GATE HAS BEEN UNLATCHED. HEADSTONES PUSHED ASIDE. CORPSES SHIFT AND OFFER RULING. A FATE YOU MUST ABIDE!" I bent down and scooped up the MA37 assault rifle at my feet. "I don't fucking think so. I think it's time you learned why they called me the Hyper Lethal Vector."

I cocked the bolt back on the rifle and prepared to fight.

**A/N: Standing alone against a Flood threat, Xero's going to stand firm like the Spartan that he is. Update coming soon.**


	11. Contingency Plan

**A/N: A colony infested with Flood, a lone Spartan, only on chance to stop them from reaching the rest of the galaxy. Sounds familiar doesn't it?**

**I own nothing**

X General POV X

The pelican reentered the hanger and touched down on the deck. Chakwas was already there with the rest of the team to help the survivors of Zhu's Hope.

Shepard and Kat stepped off last. The Commander looked around the hanger until she spotted the form of Tali in the large group. "Commander, where's Xero?" she asked approaching. Shepard sighed. "We got attacked when we were taking off. He saved Ash from falling out, but he fell out himself."

She looked at the young Quarian with regret. "He told us it was too dangerous with the Gravemind being there. So he told us to evac without him."

Tali was silent for a moment, before letting out a wail of anger and sorrow. "You left him down there! With those rotting creatures!" "Tali, he told us he'd be alright. And if I know Xero, he's got a plan." said Kat

Tali growled ferally, "I don't care what that bosht'et said! He shouldn't be down there without backup!" She started to breakdown, but a heavy hand on her shoulder distracted her. "He'll be alright Tali." said Jorge. "If there's anyone who could take on the Flood, it's him."

"Have faith in our brother. He became Noble Six for a reason." said Kat smirking. Tali relaxed a little. She looked outside the shield that seperated the hanger and the vaccum of space. _"Come back to me."_

X Xero's POV X

I ran, vaulting over everything in my path in an attempt to put as much distance between me and the Gravemind as I could. I ran out into the skyway tunnel where the Mako was parked and stopped dead.

There were three dozen Flood combat forms in the tunnel. The Mako was flipped over and on fire. "Shit." I said aiming the assault rifle I picked up. "RUNNING WILL NOT BRING YOU FREEDOM. YOU WILL BE CONSUMED." "Why the hell have you allied yourself with the Reapers? They aim to wipe out all organic life, much like the Halo rings did." I said looking from target to target.

"I AM AWARE OF THE MACHINES' MAIN OBJECTIVE. HOWEVER, UNLIKE THOSE BLASTED RINGS CREATED BY THE FORERUNNERS. WE ARE GIVEN IMMUNITY FROM EXTINCTION BY THE MACHINES, IN EXCHANGE FOR OUR MIGHT." The Gravemind explained.

"Their feeding you lies! The minute you are of no use to them they'll wipe you out too!" I exclaimed. The Gravemind chuckled darkly, "WE DISAGREE. BECAUSE IT WAS THE ONE CALLED HARBINGER THAT BROUGHT US HERE." My stomach sank.

"I won't let you do to this universe what you have done to countless others." I said having Prophet activate all of the plasma grenades that were attatched to the small of my back. "YOUR DEMISE WILL BE SAVORY." The combat forms attacked.

I lashed my hand behind me and back out throwing all of the plasma grenades. They all exploded taking out all but a few of the combat forms. I reaimed my rifle and emptied the clip into the remaining Flood, the large slugs tearing through the rotten flesh easily.

The rifle ran empty. I slapped it on my back and drew my energy swords, slicing a combat form in half as it lept at me. Spinning around, I stabbed one of the blades through another that was trying to sneak up on me.

The large tunnel was silent once again. I deactivated my swords and reattatched them to my waist. "Prophet, options." I said heading back into the area where the survivor once were. _**"Two options are avaliable. Finding a safe landing zone for a pick up is the safer route."**_

I cracked open a crate and saw UNSC weaponry and ammo. I filled up on ammo for the assault rifle. And grabbed a shotgun, a magnum, and two M7 SMGs. "What's the other option?" I asked loading all of the weapons. _**"Dealing with the Flood threat directly. The UNSC ship's wreckage is three clicks North-East of your position. Your idea of overloading the ship's reactor is the most plausable way of stoping the infestation."**_

I strapped all of the weapons on along with a bandolier of frag grenades before heading out of the room and to the mongoose I saw earlier. "We're going with the second option. Patch me through to the _Redemption_." I said starting up the motor.

_**"Signal jammed from an unknown source."**_ "Great. Can you tell me where?" _**"Scans show the signal jammer is located at the crash site."**_ I smirked, "Good thing we're headed there." I gunned the engine and the ATV shot off onto the road toward the Exogeni facility.

I knew full well that this could be considered a suicide mission. The Flood had me outnumbered hundreds, maybe even thousands, to one. But this had to be done, the Flood had to be stopped before they could spread anywhere else.

If they got off of Feros, the galaxy would be doomed before the Reaper's got here.

X

The skyway was littered with Flood. I sped right past them without so much as a glance. I didn't have time. The more time I wasted the more time the Flood had to spread. And if they spread too far then they could get out of the blast range of the _Damn's_ explosion. And if that happened, then we were in trouble.

Another thought hit me as well. If both Master Chief and Cortana were on that ship, we might have a chance at stopping them better. I'd find out if they were or not if I managed to get there in one piece.

A Combat form stood infront of me. I quickly drew one of the M7s and gunned it down before flying past. The Exogeni facility was roughly a click away, but I had to slam on the breaks. The front of the building was blocked off by a large group of Flood. The enterance way was covered in growth preventing safe passage inside.

_**"Scanning...Tactical Options Avaliable."**_ Two options appeared on my HUD. I could either activate my cloak and climb the growth and enter the building using stealth. Or I could blast my way through the blockade. I had managed to see a few fuel tanks stuck amongst the growth and had an idea.

I revved the mongoose's engine. These things killed a lot of innocent people. I was going to enjoy this.

The small engine roared as I flew down the road toward the front of the building. The Flood saw me coming and fired a combination of spikes and bullets from weapons they got from their victims. I grabbed one of my frag grenades and jammed it into a small space close to the gas tank before jumping up and standing on the seat.

_**"Maximum Armor."**_ I drew my magnum and lept off the ATV. The small vehicle continued to zoom closer to the blockade while I zoomed in the magum's scope and sighted the grenade I had placed.

When the mongoose reached the Flood, I fired three rounds. The ATV went up like a brick of C4. The flaming shrapnel that was launched struck the fuel tanks and caused them to explode.

The combat forms and the growths all lit up in the blaze. Loud shreaking echoed as they burned. I had started running after the tanks had exploded. Sprinting past the still burning corpses and into the building with my assault rifle drawn.

I fired a small burst into a carrier making it explode, another burst destroyed the infectors that came out. A combat form leaped at me from a corner and was met with the butt of my rifle knocking it to the floor. I emptied the rest of my clip into it's body before slamming in a new one and moving on.

Entering the first corridor I started talking to Prophet again, "How far to the jammer?" _**"Approximately 20 meters due West. 10 meters above."**_ I entered a small cavern like space and lept up onto a crumbling balcony. I swapped my assault rifle for the shotgun and slowly walked toward the next room.

There it was. In the back corner of the room stood a Geth signal jammer, "Guess the Flood figured out how to use the Geth's equipment." I muttered walking up to it. _**"Maximum Power."**_ I raised my fist and put it right through the jammer causing it to before explode in a shower of sparks.

"...Come on Xero come in." Joker said through the now clear lines. "I'm here Joker. Sorry about the scare, the Flood was using a Geth signal jammer to knock out communication." I said back. "Good to know your not zombie chow. The Commander want's to talk to you ASAP." said Joker. "Patch her through." I replied

"Xero, what's your status?" asked Shepard. "Green. For now. I'm at the Exogeni facility close to _Forward Unto Dawn's_ crashsite. I'm gonna overload the engine core and blow this place sky high." I said laying out my plan.

"What about you?" asked the Commander. "It'll take a while for the engine's to overload. I need someone ready with an evac on my signal." I heard Shepard sigh, "You realise that this plan is suicidal at best right?" I smirked even though she couldn't see it, "Dealing with the Flood is always a suicide mission. But like I said before, I don't plan on dying here. Just be ready with that evac before the fireworks start." I said with finality.

The line was quiet for a moment, "Alright Leutenant, good hunting. But before you start, someone wants to talk to you." Shepard went quiet, then I heard a voice that my my heart both warm up and drop into my stomach. "Xero...your in big trouble you bosht'et!"

I chuckled, "I know Tali. And I'll be back to face your wrath soon. Just have faith in me." Tali sighed, "Just becareful and don't do anything stupid." I smirked again, "I'll do my best."

The line went quiet just as Prophet spoke. _**"Proximity Alert. Enemies closing in on your location." **_I looked back at the door before quickly ducking down. _**"Cloak Engaged."**_ Several combat forms ran into the room and stood still, searching for my presence.

A few minutes later they skulked back out. "Better play it safe from here on out." I whispered to myself as I crept out of the room.

X

The _Forward Unto Dawn's_ wreckage was practically a stone's throw away from the Exogeni facility. But it didn't help that there was dozens of Flood between me and the crashed ship.

Luckily, my cloak had held out long enough for me to get inside and hide so my suit's energy could charge.

I brought up a 3D map of the _Damn's_ wreckage and looked through it with a close eye. After a brief moment, I marked the two locations I needed to get to. "First it's the cryo bay. Then engineering. Let's see...the best way to get to cryo is through the sevice ducts."

Peering out of the store room I hid in, I started to make my way to the nearest service hatch. The power was very dim inside the destroyed frigate, it was hard to believe that the power was still active at any level on this thing.

I reached the service hatch and ripped it open to allow me inside. "Six, how's everything going down there?" asked Kat over the comm. "Still alive if that's what you mean. I'm traveling through the service ducts to avoid detection, heading to cryo first before hitting up engineering." I replied.

"You really think they're in there?" she asked. "Let's hope they are. We could use both of their help right now." I said jumping up into another duct and turning a corner. The sound of Flood infectors resounded in the small space. I drew an M7 and pressed my body against the wall.

At the end of the duct, a small group of the little creatures scurried by not even seeing me. With the SMG leading, I started moving again. After turning a few more corners and climbing up several levels, I kicked out another hatch on the level that cryo was suppose to be on.

"So far so good." I said drawing my assault rifle. The ship was a complete mess. The metal walls and ceiling had caved in from the crash, loose wires, hoses and debris covered the floor as I stepped over it.

I came to a corner and stopped, taking out my knife and peering around the corner with it. The reflective metal showed two combat forms milling around infront of the door that would take me to the cryo bay. Putting my knife and assault rifle away, I drew the hilts for my energy swords. _**"Cloak Engaged."**_

Now cloaked, I silently stepped around the corner and toward the Flood soldiers. The small tentacles sticking out of their chests waved gently infront of them as I drew closer.

They stiffened. I froze with the hilts of my swords clentched and ready to activate.

"WE SENSE YOUR PRESENCE. YOU'VE COME IN SEARCH OF _THEM_ HAVEN'T YOU? WE EXIST TOGETHER NOW. THREE CORPSES...IN ONE GRAVE." Spoke the combat forms.

My swords activated and I quickly sliced them in half down the middle. "Not if I have anything to say about it asshole." I deactivated the swords and forced my hands into the small gap in the door infront of me.

"Uh, Xero? I don't know what you did, but those Flood freaks are heading for your location." said Joker. I grunted as I forced the doors apart. "How many?" I asked drawing my rifle again.

"All of them." said the pilot.

Dread crept up my spine like a serpent under my skin. "Fuck, then I better make this quick. Just keep me posted on the horde's location." I said sprinting down the damaged hall. "Aye aye." replied Joker.

I rounded a corner at top speed and saw faded writing on the wall reading 'Cryo Bay' with a blue arrow pointing farther down. A combat form came out of a nearby door way. I aimed my rifle and severed it's legs at the knee with two short bursts, running past it as it dropped to the floor.

The doors leading into the cryo room were right infront of me, but were sealed tight and didn't have power. "Prophet, can the suit give me enough strength to get this open?" _**"Negative. The suit's maximum strength would not effect the highly dense metal."**_ I cursed to myself. Then I had an idea.

X

Honestly...I hoped this would work.

I had taken all but two of my grenades and stuck them to the door with omni-gel. I had also managed to gather four flamable canisters from nearby rooms and set them close to the grenades. Five in all forming an X pattern with the center grenade over where the doors seperated.

Down the hall, I leaned around the corner and drew my magnum. _**"Warning. The sound of the explosion will alert all parasites within the crashed ship."**_ "I know Prophet. But I need to get in there." I aimed down the sights and targeted the grenade in the center of the X.

I fired one shot, and took cover as the whole deck shook from the explosion. When the dust settled, the door to cryo had been warped inward in the middle making a small hole. "Good enough." I said as I ran back to the door and started to force it open. _**"Maximum Power."**_

The door started to creak when I heard the loud shreaking as Flood combat forms headed to my position. "Come on!" I said as the doors started to seperate. _"__**Proximity Alert."**_ "Not helping!" I shouted putting more strength into it. The door started to open wider.

"Xero, the Flood is closing in on your position." said Joker. "I know!" I exclaimed forcing the heavy door open wider.

The gap in the middle was just large enough for me to squeeze through when the first of the combat forms started running down the corridor. I drew an M7 and started to go through the opening while firing on the Flood.

I was halfway through and I had already taken down three when my clip ran dry. A combat form latched onto my arm and tried to pull be back making me drop the SMG. I raised my foot and kicked it hard enough to send it crashing into it's friends and knocking them over.

Just barely making it through. The Flood started to try and wrench the doors open. Two pure forms and three carriers had shown up and added their strength.

I pulled out a grenade and tossed it through the opening in the door. It bounced and rolled under the feet of one of the carriers. I dove aside just as it went off, the sounds of the carrier's exploding along with their little travelers followed by the sounds of bodies hitting the walls hard.

Looking back through the door, I saw a the corridor pained with green blood. Various limbs laid everywhere and fleshy chunks dripped down the walls. "Damn, where's a janitor when you need one?" I said before heading farther into the cryo bay.

X

Unlike the rest of the _Dawn_, the cryo bay looked mostly intact. I swept each room with my assault rifle using my nano vision so that I could remain unseen. I kept having Prophet scan for any signs of life, but it always came back negative.

I entered the last room and found it worse than the others. All the cryo tubes had been smashed in, except the one that was farther down the row. That one had been opened.

As I got closer, I saw signs of combat. Shell casings, bullet dents, and red and green blood covered the floor and walls. And at the vary end was another door, it looked like it had been smashed inward by something huge.

The sound of sobbing caught my attention. I stepped quietly toward a pedistal where a small blue light was visible. I removed my helmet and knelt down infront of the pedistal and saw a tiny blue woman curled up in a ball and shaking.

"Cortana?" Her head snapped up and she looked in my direction. "X-Xero?...Is it really you?" I nodded and smiled, "Been a while huh?" I said chuckling. She smiled, but it quickly vanished, as did my own. "What happened Cortana?" I asked seriously.

She shuddered, "After the Ark was destroyed, we just drifted through space. I had no way of knowing that we had been sent to another galaxy. Days turned to weeks, then months, then years. The _Dawn's_ power started to run out. I had to shut down the non-essential parts of the ship. Until all that was left was the one cryo tube and the beacon I dropped."

The AI looked up at me, "The ship crashed on this planet by accident. By that point we were almost completely out of power. In order to get John out safely...I had to wait for what power we had left to drain into the cryo bay." She turned her head and starred off into nothing. "Then...the Flood started to wreak havok on the colony. I had no idea that a few of them had managed to get on board. I worked faster at trying to get John out of cryo."

She started to cry again, "But it was too quick. When he woke up his nerves had been damaged, the quick thaw had all but fired them. It made him slow, his reaction time not even half of what it was before...Then..." Cortana broke down and cried into her knees.

I wished there was someway I could comfort her. But she was just a hologram avatar...so I just listened and waited.

"The Flood started to break in here. John worked as fast as he could to arm himself and fight back." Cortana shuddered. "But they overpowered him. Beat him down...I've never seen him so...so..." she trailed off. "Where's the Chief now?" I asked.

"The Flood took him...I don't know where...It's all my fault..." she said burying her head into her knees again. I shook my head, "This wasn't your fault Cortana. Even for an AI there was only so much you could do...But right now I need your help."

Slowly, she looked up at me. "The Flood have completely taken over the colony. The people I'm working with managed to save what survivors made it. But we can't let them off this planet...you know what they're capable of." I said seriously.

Cortana just starred, "I'm useless Xero. I went rampant shortly after the Chief was taken...AIs aren't suppose to have emotions. Anger, fear, sorrow, regret...guilt..."

I looked at her softly. "Cortana...would you hurt me?" She looked up at me in shock, "No, never." she exclaimed. "Would your hurt the innocent?" I asked again. "No." she said more gently this time. "Then that's all I need to know. Emotions don't make you defective, they can make you stronger. You just have to make sure you don't lose control of them."

I smiled, "And I know for a fact that you are the most controlled AI I've ever met." The data that ran across her form sped up, and her eyes changed from blue to pink, "Thank you, Xero." she said standing up on her pedistal.

"What do you say we kill some Flood and find the Chief?" I asked pulling my helmet back on. "What took you so long to ask?" she said putting her hand's on her hips.

I removed her chip causing her avatar to vanish. "Prophet, you got room in there for one more?" I asked. _**"Affermative. Reconfiguration of nanosuit is required so that transportation of AI construct, Subject: Cortana, can be done safely."**_ "Do what you have to." I said preparing myself.

A sudden pain errupted in the back of my skull. My HUD went haywire for a few moment's before coming back online. _**"Reconfiguration...complete. Nanosuit has successfully connected with UNSC nerual implant. Construct Cortana can now be inserted."**_

Reaching my hand back and feeling the back of my head. I felt a small slot that wasn't there before. I looked down at Cortana's chip. "Well...here goes something." I inserted the chip into the back of my head.

Immediately I felt a cool presence in my head, before a slight headache in my frontal lobe that quickly disappeared. "Cortana? You there?" I asked. Silence. "Cortana?" I asked again.

**"...I can't believe you went through all of that."** she said inside my head. I chuckled, "I take it Prophet gave you the grand tour?" **"You could call it that. But it's hard to believe all of that happened. Reach...you nearly gave your life to make sure Keyes and I got out of there." **"You and the Chief were our hope Cortana. I was happy to fight so you could escape." I said heading through the smashed door.

**"And the world we're in now...so many different species. And not one of them hostile like the Covenant were."** "Actually, there are quite a few who would prove that wrong." I said honestly.

I suddently heard her giggle which caused me to pause. "What?" I asked. **"Nothing...just...nothing."** "Cortana..." I said seriously. **"Your so smitten with that Quarian girl aren't you?"** I hung my head and muttered about intrusive AIs as I moved us toward engineering.

X

It had been a while since we left the cryo deck, and there wasn't any opposition. "This is too easy." I said sweeping my weapon from side to side. **"Me and Prophet aren't picking up anything. Where are they?"** I hit my comm, "Joker, what's the status on the horde?"

"They've...just stopped." he replied confused. "What do you mean 'they've stopped'?" I asked, that feeling of dread slowly creeping back. "Joker's right Xero, the Flood have stopped moving. Their surrounding the ship's wreckage, almost like their waiting for something." said Shepard.

**"With the Flood, who knows what they could be planning."** said Cortana. "Xero? Who was that?" asked Shepard. "Her name's Cortana. She's a UNSC class smart AI, she was the one that helped the Master Chief stop the Covenant wars." I explained. "How do you know she can be trusted?" said Tali suddently coming on the line.

**"Noble Six nearly gave his life so that I could help the Chief stop the Covenant and the Flood. If anything...I owe him a lot."** said Cortana. "...Alright, I may have little trust in AIs. But if Xero trusts you then I will too. Keep him safe." said Tali. **"Don't worry, I'll keep him out of trouble."** I rolled my eyes, "So says the tiny woman in my head.

My left hand suddently snapped up and slapped me. "What the?" **"You forgot that the nanosuit is hooked into your nervious system."** she said with a smirk in her voice. "Moving on..." I said and just kept moving toward the engineering deck.

After going through the service ducts again. I managed to get into engineering with little trouble. "Still no sign of the Flood. Where the hell did they all go?" I muttered searching the large dark room. **"Xero, activate that panel on the far wall. There might still be power for this room."** I saw the panel Cortana pointed out and activated it.

There was a large rumble, and the lights above slowly flickered to life. The reactor for the ship was intact, and from the looks of it would still have enough juice to blow the Flood straight to hell. "Cortana, what's the status on the engine core?" I asked approaching the massive engine.

**"The core is still very active, even after all the time. If you can crack the seals, it will start to overload."** she replied. "How long will I have before it goes?" I asked leaping up to the catwalk three stories above. **"Hard to tell given all of the damage that has occured to the ship. My best guess would be about 10 to 15 minutes."** I sighed, "Shit, better make this count then."

I hit my comm, "Shepard, have a phantom ready to pick us up. According to Cortana I only got about 10 to 15 minutes before this place blows." "We'll get it ready now and let you know when we're on approach." said the Commander.

I looked up at the engine core. The vent's that helped cool it down where just a few feet above the catwalk. The problem was that there was no way for the vents to open. I'd have to rip them open by force, then fire my weapon directly into it to crack the seal.

Grabbing the first vent, I pulled until the small piece of metal snapped right off. I drew my shotgun and jammed it down the small hole and pulled the trigger.

The sound of the buckshot hitting the inside of the vent echoed...then an explosion rumbled followed by a jet of fire that shot out of the opening. **"One down."** said Cortana.

I moved to the next one to repeat the process...when the door at the end of the catwalk opened. In the doorway stood a hulking form that could barely fit through. But when it did, it started to skulk toward me. I aimed my shotgun, ready to fight whatever Flood form was coming at me.

Through what light there was, I could make out large spikes sticking out of it's back along with a few long tentacles. Both arms had the same long razor sharp claws where the hands were. And from the way it walked, the thing must have weighed a ton.

The creature stepped into the light...and I nearly dropped my shotgun. Cortana screamed in horror...and I couldn't blame her. Before us stood Master Chief, Spartan John-117.

And he had been infected by the Flood.

**A/N:...Hell, even for me that is hard to grasp. And I wrote the chapter. With Master Chief infected by the Flood how will Xero and Cortana stop him and the rest of the infection? **


	12. Xero B312 VS John 117

**A/N: The last chapter was a shocker, so I intended on this one being a strong step up from that. The fight between Xero and the infected Master Chief, you all know it's going to be one hell of a fight.**

**I own nothing**

Fuck. Fuck. FUCK! Out of all the things that isn't good...this tops the list in almost every catagory.

The Chief stood stone still, tentacles swaying back and forth. His razor sharp claws twitched every now and then. His MJOLNIR armor was warped in various places, the gold visor of his helmet was smashed and a pair of pale sickly green eyes stared out through it.

**"John...no...this can't be real!"** Cortana cried. I took a step back keeping my shotgun trained on my once fellow Spartan, "Cortana? I know your hurting right now. But this is kind of a bad time." I whispered. Chief took a heavy step forward and I fired my shotgun without thinking twice.

An energy shield flared to life protecting him. "You have got to be shitting me." I said loading another round and firing again. The shield came back up and he took another step forward. "You said his nerves were damaged from the quick thaw right?" I asked Cortana firing another round with the same results.

**"I did, but with the parasite's way of regenerating dead cells...who knows what could have happened to him."** I fired the rest of the round's in the shotgun and went to switch weapons.

John suddently jerked forward and seemed to fly across the platform and backhanded me. I flew off the catwalk and landed on the floor hard, making a large dent in the metal.

"Ow." I mumbled getting back to my feet. A loud roar resounded through the room, and I saw the infected Spartan leaping at me from three stories up. I rolled out of the way just as he slammed into the ground piercing the floor with his claws were I was a second ago.

I pulled out my last M7 and aimed. A human infected Flood was bad enough...but an infected Spartan? "I think I'm in trouble." I mumbled as the Chief stood back up. "What's going on down there Xero?" called Shepard. "I'm...having a little bit of trouble here Commander. It's kind of a bad time." I said firing every round in the SMG, the Chief's shields absorbing them all.

"What's wrong?" she asked. I reloaded my weapon and emptied the next clip, the shield finally died and I pulled out my assault rifle and fired. The slugs bounced off the strong armor plates, but managed to get through the weaker parts and sent green blood splashing out.

"Xero?" called Shepard. I reloaded my assault rifle, but the infected Spartan flew at me again with his claw cocked back forcing me to dive aside. The razor sharp claws sliced clean through the terminal that was right behind me.

I jumped up and slammed the barrel of the rifle inbetween the armor plates and emptied the clip again. "Xero come in!" Shepard shouted. The spikes on the Chief's back twitched, then fired out like little missiles. One pierced through my shoulder sending me into a wall on the far side of the room, dropping my assault rifle in the process.

Gnashing my teeth in pain, I pulled myself out of the wall with the spike still in my shoulder and went into cover. "Fuck..." I groaned. Grabbing the spike, I yanked it right out of my shoulder spilling blood down my armor. "Xero where are you?" I hit my comm, "I'm here Shepard." I grunted.

"What's going on down there?" she asked concerned. "Master Chief's been infected by the Flood. And let me tell you...he ain't no pushover." I said peering around the corner. I saw my rifle laying a few meters away. But no sign of the infected Chief.

"We are already enroute in a phantom to come pick you up. Well drop in and give you a hand." she said . "Negative Commander. This combat form is way too powerful. I'm relaying on my speed and regeneration ability just to stay alive." I said back pulling out my shotgun and reloading it.

"Xero your in over your head! You need backup!" exclaimed Shepard. A familiar roar echoed out and I heard a loud crash above me. The Chief had crashed through the catwalk above me and was dropping in. "Shit!" I dove aside just in time. "Xero!" shouted Shepard. "Just stay in the air until I give the signal!" I shouted back firing my shotgun again and again.

The infect Spartan swung an arm out, I hit a button on my arm and a shield snapped into existance. The claws struck it turning it from blue to red and send me skidding back on my feet. With the shield on my left arm, I held my shotgun in the other. "Chief, I know your in there somewhere. Come on fight back! Don't let the Gravemind control you!"

John just stared blankly, then charged me with speed only Spartans are known for. I brought my shield up and blocked the first strike. I aimed my shotgun, but the other set of claws sliced it to pieces forcing me back.

He kept up the assault, my shield was red and about to give out. I drew one of my energy swords and slashed a large mark in the front of his armor, spilling green blood down his front and causing him to roar in pain.

"I'm sorry John." I said raising my sword, I plunged it right through his chest. The two points sticking out of his back.

Everything slowed to a crawl. The Chief looked down at the sword through his chest with mild interest, then he looked up at me.

One of his clawed hands wrapped around my throat, lifting me off the floor with no effort at all. He through be clear across the room sending me crashing through a terminal before hitting the far wall. I bit through the pain and looked up to see the infected Spartan look down at the sword through his chest before grabbing it and pulling it out.

With a loud crunch, he crushed the hilt in his hand and dropping it to the floor before skulking my way. "Dammit...Cortana, any ideas on how to stop him?" I asked staggering back to my feet. **"I honestly have no idea. He's stronger, faster, and more durable than any Flood form ever encountered. And that shield doesn't help matters. Your best bet would be to overload the engine core and hope it takes him out when it explodes."**

I shook my head, "I'm so sorry Cortana." **"Don't worry about it...The John I knew is gone. That **_**thing**_** is not him, just a monster that only consumes."** I drew my M7 and my magnum, "It's time to bring down this house." I said getting ready to end this.

X General POV X

Two forms ran down the halls of _Forward Unto Dawn_, but they were not Flood.

"Are you sure that you tracked him to here?" asked a middle aged woman. "Very sure, considering he's the only living thing left in the colony. That and the fact his armor is easy to spot when uncloaked." said a tall man with a German accent.

They drew closer to the sounds of combat on the engineering deck. "I just hope we get there before it's too late." said the woman.

X Xero's POV X

The second seal on the engine core erupted. I lept awat just as the Chief slashed through the catwalk under me with his claws. "Just two left." I said running to the next one. I grabbed the covering and started to pull. But the Chief was on me before I could pull it off.

I drove my elbow hard into his head, then took out my knife and stabbed it repeatedly into the opening in his visor. He reared back and roared in pain allowing me time to pull the vent covering off and fire a burst from my SMG into it.

The vent erupted like the last two. **"One more Xero! The engines beginning to overload!"** The infected Spartan got his second wind and came at me again. I aimed at him but he knocked my weapon out of my hand. I brought my hands up immediately. _**"Maximum Power."**_

Three rapid punches to the chest send him staggering back. An uppercut sent him back another few steps. He slashed, I ducked under it and lept into the air with a wide spin kick that caught him in the head and sent him crashing to the floor below.

Not wanting to waste time, I ran for the last seal.

A pure form dropped down and backhanded me off the catwalk.

I flipped in the air and landed on my feet. "Shit. He's got back up." I said gritting my teeth. The pure form dropped to my level followed by four others. "Five on one? Sound's fair." I said with a shrug drawing my energy sword and my shield.

The five pure forms all charged me, I ran at them and slashed. The super heated plasma blade sliced the head off of one of the Flood. Another slice split one in half at the waste. One of the other pure forms swung wide hitting my shield and sent me skidding back.

Pulling the shield off my arm, I threw it like a large frisbee that sliced through two of the remaining pure forms before hitting the far wall and shattering. Now there was only one.

It transformed into it's speed form and made a run for it. I charged after it and stomped down on it, squishing it under my feet. "That's it for you pal." I said with a smirk.

Chief landed on the floor behind me, "Ready for round two?" I asked scooping up my assault rifle and reloading it.

The doors behind the infected Chief opened, and Flood forms of all kinds surged into the room and stood behind him as though they were waiting for his orders. **"This is not good. We're out numbered by dozens."** said Cortana. "I know." I said focusing on the horde before me.

The Chief raised his hand, and dropped it.

On the mark, the horde surged forward. I fired my weapon into the crowd, dropping several but the horde just ran over their dead and kept coming. I took out my pistol in the other hand after reloading the assault rifle and fired both weapons. Emptying both clips in seconds.

Bodys fell with every round fired. But the more that fell, more seemed to take their place. It was no secret why they were called the Flood. I couldn't help but think that after I bashed a crippled skull with the barrel of my pistol.

The horde was close. I drew my energy sword again and started slashing my way through them. A few pure forms in their offensive stage were stuck on the high wall and was raining down their spikes on me. **"Xero theres too many of them!"** exclaimed Cortana as several spikes pierced my shoulders, chest and legs. Biting through it, I kept up the assault. Not giving the parasites the satisfaction of falling.

I started to back up, making sure that the Flood was kept back. Dozens laid scattered dead across the floor. With a few well placed pistol rounds I managed to take down the pure forms on the high wall.

"I...got them all." I said breathlessly. I was spent, exhausted beyond every concievable notion. Prophet had managed to use the suit's inner network to force the spikes out of my body. **"Your wounded and exhausted. We need to finish off the engine core and get out of here." **Cortana said with concern.

I took a few deep breaths, "Your right. Lets finish th-" before I couldn't finish my sentence, a big set of claws pierced through my stomach.

John picked me up, and ran across the room and into a wall. The large razor sharp spikes burst out my back and sank into the wall behind me, pinning me to the metal wall.

Blood driped out of my mouth and my HUD was shaking with static. I looked up into the ghoulish eyes of my Spartan brother. I gritted my teeth. He wasn't John-117, just a fucking parasite using his body like a puppet.

"Your strong...I give you that." I said coughing blood onto my visor. "But your no Spartan!" The infected Chief started to raise his other claw. "Your not Master Chief! Your just a fucking useless, weak, parasite!" The claw raised higher. "And like all parasites...you. Die! OUT!" I brought up both legs with what strength I had and kicked the creature hard in the chest sending him crashing through a terminal a hundred feet away.

I fell to the ground in a heap, blood dripping from my wounds as the nanites started to repair the damage. **"Xero you've lost a lot of blood."** "I know." I said applying medigel to seal the wounds and getting to my feet trying to get my second wind. **"You can't keep doing this, your body will give out at this rate."** I knew Cortana was worried. She lost John, and was afraid that I'd be next.

But I wasn't planning to die here.

I grabbed my assault rifle and slammed in the clip...my last clip. My pistol had only one round left in it. "Come on freak. Let's end this!" I roared charging at him.

A loud shot rang out and the infected Chief's head violently snapped to the right. "Now's not the time to sacrefice yourself Xero." My eyes widened. "Mom?" Another shot was fired and the large Flood toppled over.

I followed the tragectory of the shot...and to my shock I saw Doctor Halsey and Jun standing on the catwalk infront of the last seal of the engine core. "You can't take much more brother, I suggest that we blow this engine and escape." said Jun keeping his sniper rifle trained on the undead Spartan.

Thanks to Jun's distraction, I ran and lept back up onto the catwalk where they were. "Nice new suit. Do I even want to know what happened to the last one?" Halsey asked. "Long story mom. I'll tell you later." I said ripping the last cover off.

Jun emptied the last of his clip and reloaded as I pulled my last frag grenade. "Get ready to run!" I shouted pulling the pin and tossing it into the vent. "Go!" The three of us ran for the door as the grenade went off and cracking the last of the engine's seal.

X General POV X

Commander Shepard stood on the phantom as they made their approach to where they were suppose to pick up Xero.

Kat was flying the ship with ease, Ashley next to her manning the ship's plasma guns. In the troop department with the Commander stood Soap, Kaidan, Emile and Jorge. She hoped that it was enough to keep the Flood off of the ship long enough for the evac.

"Shepard! Come in!" Shepard hit her comm, "I'm here Xero. We're about a click away from you." she replied. "Good, we still have 10 minutes. Listen, we have two more people coming with me!" said Xero over the sound of an explosion in the background.

"Got it. Just make sure you guys get out of there." Shepard said as the link ended. "More survivors?" asked Soap. "Apparently." said Shepard hitting the door to the cockpit, "10 minutes! Try to ger there in 4!" "On it!" Kat shouted back as they all felt the ship speed up.

X Xero's POV X

I bent down and hoisted Dr. Halsey out of the hole in the deck. Jun soon followed as we kept running down the corridors as the ship started to shake apart around us. The clock on my HUD read 8:51 and was dropping.

We ran until we hit a dead end. "Shit!" I shouted. The loud roaring shreek of the Flood came from down the corridor. Jun took a defensive stance with his assault rifle out, the doctor aimed an M7 that was on her.

"Prophet! Search for a weakness in the hull!" I shouted taking out my own rifle. The first of the Flood appeared and we opened fire. A combat form fell, then another, then another. My rifle clicked empty, "Fuck, I'm out!" I shouted. Jun pulled out another clip and tossed it to me, "Make'em count!" he shouted back.

_**"Weak point in hull detected."**_ I looked back at the wall and saw a red X appear on the wall infront of us on my HUD. I immediately switched to my energy sword and stabbed the wall. The gunfire and the sound of more Flood dropping dead echoed in my ears as I started to cut through the ship's hull.

"We're almost out!" shouted Halsey. I pushed the blade farther until I managed to make a big enough hole before kicking out the large circular chunk of metal. "Let's go!" I shouted shooting down the corridor to give them cover. Jun reloaded quickly and grabbed Halsey and jumping out the hole. After my clip ran dry again I jumped out too.

We landed on a large flat chunk of the _Dawn_ outside. "There's the phantom the team's coming in." I said pointing to the dot that was getting bigger fast. My HUD read 6:12.

Suddently, a loud roar resounded from the hole we came through. The infected form of Master Chief came through and started to come for us. "Jun, get mom to that ship" I said bringing my sword to bare. Jun nodded and picked her up before running farther down the ship.

I didn't give the infected Spartan a chance and charged at him. He brought up a claw and swiped. "Not this time!" I shouted diving under the attack and slashing with the energy blade.

The creature's left arm flew from it's body and it roared in agony. I spun again and sliced clean through his waist splitting him in half. The infected Chief struggled to stand without legs. I stabbed my sword down and pinned him to the ship.

"Like I said." I said walking to the head of the Flood form. "Your not John-117." I reached into the rotting flesh and grabbed hold of something and ripped it from the creature. "These are his." I said holding the dog tags. "Now rot in hell you freak!" with that I ran like hell just as the phantom hovered over the ship, Jun and Halsey jumping inside.

Shepard waved for me to come on while they fired their weapons. The Flood was swarming all over the ship and were following after me. I pushed my skills to the limit and kept running. I made it through the last expanse and jumped onto the ship.

Kaidan fired a singularity sending combat forms flying. Soap manned the stationary plasma turret and took down a pure form before mowing down the others. "Take off!" shouted Shepard as she fired her assault rifle.

The phantom started to lift into the air. A combat form latched onto the skid of the ship, I leaned out with my pistol and aimed at It's head. The form let out a roar as we climbed into the air. "YOU WILL NOT SUCCEED! MY WILL STRETCHES FAR BEYOND THAT OF THIS WORLD! THE DESTRUCTION OF YOUR PATHETIC RACE AND OTHERS IS AT HAND! WE WILL NOT BE DEFEATED."

I took off my helmet and glared. "But today...you lose." I pulled the trigger and the combat form plummeted toward the ground.

The skid's closed and Juno went full speed toward the atmosphere. The ship shook violently when _Forward Unto Dawn_ expoded with the strength of 50 warheads. It wasn't as big like the _Autumn _on the first Halo ring...but strong enough to wipe out the Flood.

"It's good to see you again Jun." said Jorge. "And you too mom." he said grinning at Dr. Halsey. "It's good to see you again too Jorge." said the doctor as the phantom made for the atmosphere.

I slumped onto the floor just starred out into the void of space as we headed back to the _Solace_. The fight had taken a major toll on me physically and emotionally and I couldn't find the strength to stand. Taking my helmet off and setting it aside and I wiped the remaining blood from my chin.

"Xero?" asked Shepard sitting next to me on the floor. "Good work down there." she said with pride. I just nodded, my mind mudded with too many thoughts to speak. How could I take pride in what happened? Over 90% of the colony was wiped out by the Flood. Said parasites were now loose in this dimension siding with the Reapers.

And above all...one of the biggest heros of the Halo verse had fallen.

When I didn't respond she looked concerned. "Xero? Are you okay?" Shepard asked. Cortana appeared on my shoulder spooking the Commander for a moment. The AI placed a holographic hand on my cheek for comfort. Even though I couldn't actually feel her hand, the fact she was trying made my inner termoil a little more bareable.

I looked down at the dented and slightly rusted dogtags in my hand. "No." I said in a voice just above a whisper. "I'm not okay..."

**A/N: The Chief has been laid to rest. And I know that several of you wanted there to be a way for the chief to be turned back to normal, but as you all know that once the Flood infect something that there is no going back. Whatever is infected belongs to the Gravemind, and their only salvation is death. But I made sure that the Chief went out the way a Spartan should go out. Update coming soon.**


	13. Healing the Heart

**A/N: I figured that after all of the chapters involving firefights and many forms of destruction, that a filler chapter with dialog would have been something of a nessesity. But rest assured, after this chapter there will be much more fighting right around the corner.**

**I own nothing.**

X General POV X

The _Solace_ was unusally quiet. The incident on Zhu's Hope happened a meer five days ago and the survivors were doing very well according to Chakwas. Cortana was put into the ship's systems and was allowed free reign of the databanks on board. Infact she had overpowered the Covenant AI on board and consumed it's data, prolonging her life and making her feel better than she had before.

Dispite the calm atmosphere, everyone on board were far from happy. The events on the small colony had left many shaken, others sickened at the prospect of such a terrifying enemy loose in the galaxy.

The biggest issue being that no one had seen Xero at all. Not even Tali, and the young Quarian was distraught in his absense. The injuries he had sustained would have put even the strongest of marines out of commission. But thanks to his Spartan augmentations and the Ceph nanites in his systems Chakwas had reported that he would be ready to fight by the next mission.

However after his examination Xero had vanished and wasn't heard from since.

"This doesn't seem like him." said Ashley. "Whatever happened down on the colony must have had a harsh effect on him." said Liara. Shepard sat in the Captain's seat of the _Solace _pinching the bridge of her nose. What happened to Xero?

The door to the bridge opened and the other Spartans and Doctor Halsey entered. "I take it your talking about Xero." said Halsey. "Do you know what's wrong with him?" asked Tali rubbing her hands together.

Sighing, Halsey took a seat, the rest of Noble team sat around her. "There are many things about Xero that you don't know. And was kept from the rest of Noble team." She looked past the shocked Spartans at Jorge. "Except for Jorge."

Everyone looked at the large Spartan who was looking down at the floor with sorrow in his eyes. "All of us Spartans...we were brought into the UNSC at a very young age. 5 and 6 year old kids who had no family, were abandoned, or were left orphaned after the Covenant attacked their home. We were trained, fed, and trained more. Then, we went through the augmentation process. Where the candidates' bodys were made stronger. Bones as hard as steel. Strength that could flip a tank. And speed that could nearly match any ground vehicle."

Jorge looked up at the whole team. "Out of the 300 candidates in the Spartan II program...only 60 lived through the process. Me included." "That's horrible!" exclaimed Kaidan. "You have to understand, Humanity was desperate. We created the Spartan program to give the Marines a fighting chance." said Halsey.

"And where do you fit into all of this doc?" asked Shepard. Halsey looked at the floor, "I'm the mother of the Spartan program." She looked up at the faces of the crew, "They all were bright children, and I cherished them like they were my own. If I ever heard of one's death...it felt like losing a child." she said with a tear streaking down her face.

Jorge set a hand on her shoulder, "We Spartans...we didn't have family. So we stuck together. Like brothers and sisters." He gently patted Halsey's shoulder, "And a mother. We fought for Humanity, ourselves, and each other. We are a family."

After Jorge was done speaking, Tali spoke up. "What about Xero?" she asked. Jorge and Halsey both winced. "Xero was...an unwilling subject." said Halsey. "A man in ONI by the name of Ackerson created his own branch of the Spartan program. The Spartan III's. It was kept under wraps so well that the UNSC brass never got wind of it."

She starred out the viewport and looked at the stars. "Xero was discovered on a remote colony. Beaten and bleeding as though he had been through a terrible accident. I saw a victim...Ackerson saw an experiment. Xero was taken, and subjected to by far the most painful process of becoming a Spartan. From what I've heard, he died four times on the operating table. He was rescued from the fortress by a selected team."

"Who was the team lead by?" asked Ashley. Halsey looked up at Jorge whose mouth was a thin line. "The things I saw...the things Six was put through...it was inhuman. It was a surprise to find that he wasn't a mindless killing machine. He became our newest brother." said the large Spartan.

The crew couldn't even to begin to comprehend what they were just told. Halsey sighed again, "Xero...isn't even his real name. Xero-B213 was the name and number given to him. The procedure he was put through damaged his mind slightly. Causing him to lose some of his memory."

Through the whole discussion, Tali felt her heart clentch tightly with each passing second. "The creature that Xero fought...that was another Spartan wasn't it?" Shepard asked already knowing the answer. "John-117...he was the best out of all of us." said Jorge.

Cortana appeared on the terminal next to them, "John saved our universe from the Covenant and the Flood. He ended the war with the help of the UNSC and the Elites who defected from the Covenant...he was a true hero." she said.

"Killing John must have been like killing a brother to him." said Liara. Cortana nodded, "Xero...I saw a lot in him. Like I did John. He's a born leader, strong, swift and brave." she smirked, "And a good amount of luck."

She looked back up, her smile gone. "I saw his memories with the help of Prophet. He may be stronger, faster and more durable than any of his brothers and sisters. But his mind..." she trailed off. "Being a Spartan is both a blessing and a curse." said Jun. "We maybe stronger, faster and tougher than regular Human's. But because of that we have the curse of seeing our comrades die around us." Finished Jorge.

"Xero has seen so many people die around him while he still stood fighting. And if you add in the slight damage the augmentation process did. His mind is fracturing...it's only a matter of time before it could break." said Halsey.

"Is there anything we can do?" asked Garrus. Cortana smiled, "Not we." she looked over at Tali, "Just one."

Tali's eyes widened, "M-Me?" The AI smiled wider, "I saw his memories. You have the biggest effect on him. I also felt his emotions, he would do anything for your happiness. You have somehow tapped into that part of his heart that was lost for so long."

Halsey walked over to the young Quarian and held her three fingered hands in her own. "He loves you so much. And I can tell you love him too...Please...save my son." Tali closed her eyes and squeezed the doctor's hands, her eyes opening and showing determination. "I will."

She headed for the door at a brisk pace. "What will you do?" asked Shepard. Tali stopped and looked back at all of them. "I'm getting him back."

X

Tali stormed down the hallway. With the Engineer, that she had named Vecta, right beside her following. After a few minutes, they arrived at a sealed door that lead into the Captain's quarters, the room that the rest of the crew wanted Xero to have.

"Vecta, can you get this door open?" asked Tali. The bulbous, hovering creature tilted it's head and squeeked before pressing it's tentacles to the doorlock in the center. There was a few discharges of electricity and the red lock turned blue. "Thank you Vecta." Tali said rubbing the creature's head. "Now go be with the others. I can do the rest." The Engineer squeeked again before floating off down the corridor.

Tali looked back to the door and entered the room when the doors slid apart.

The room beyond was a sight to see. After they had first got on the Corvette the crew had discovered that the Elites slept in a similar fashion to humans. However, the beds were much larger. The crew's quarters was large enough to hold 18 people alone.

But the Captain's room...It was amazing by itself. It had a large sitting area with a large table in the middle where a galaxy map could be projected. I large staircase that lead to a loft where the bed, which was twice the size of a king sized bed, along with a bathroom...of sorts. Xero had said something about trying to change a few things to Human standards.

Tali walked across the large room and up to a mantel where the items he had shown her before were displayed, minus Jorge's tags for obvious reasons.

She looked from each of them before picking up Xero's old helmet. Running her nimble fingers over each scratch, dent and crack on the surface. _"Keelah...how much did you suffer?"_ she thought sadly looking at the shattered visor.

_I hurt myself, today_

_To see if I still feel_

_I focus, on the pain_

_the only thing, that's real_

The sound of music from the second floor caught her attention. Setting the helmet back down, she walked up the stairs to the loft. "Xero?" she called softly.

_The needle tears a hole_

_The old familiar sting_

_Try to kill it, all the way_

_But I remember, everything_

Reaching the second level, she saw him sitting on the other side of the bed with his back to her. His omni-tool glowing and emiting a Human song that spoke of pain and loss.

_What have I become_

_My sweetest friend_

_Everyone I know, goes away_

_In the End_

Slowly, she walked around the large bed and approached him. He was bent over, arms on his knees with a set of rusted dogtags hanging from his right hand. His eyes were focused on the floor unblinking. If it weren't for the slow rise and fall of his back she'd think he was a statue.

_And you could have it all_

_My empire of dirt_

_I will let you down_

_I will make you hurt_

"Xero?" she called again sitting down next to him, he didn't even blink. From here she could see that the dark circles under his eyes could be seen clearly even in the faded light. She reached a hand out and set it on his shoulder, squeezing it lightly.

Xero's breath halted. His head turned slowly until his red eyes met her glowing ones. "Xero...Talk to me. Please." She pleaded. Her hand's reached up and gently held his face. "I know your hurting. After everything you've been through, and forced to kill your brother Spartan." She glanced at the tags in his hand before locking eyes again.

"You can't keep this all inside. You my be a soldier, a Spartan, and a hero in your own right...But you are also a man. A man who has had to suffer so much. Sacrificing every part of yourself for the sake of others." She smiled under her visor. "It's time somebody saved you. So please...let me in." she said with all of the love she could muster.

At first Xero did nothing. Then Tali saw a lone tear decend his cheek as his face remained still.

His eyes closed and he let out a shuddered breath, "Why...am I always the one left alive..." he whispered. Tali reached out and pulled his head into her chest and held him. The Spartan started to shake with a few sobs that escaped him.

The dogtags fell from his hand as he wrapped his arms around Tali. She ran her fingers over his scalp soothingly, "It was for a reason Xero. You saved countless others because of your bravery. Those who lost their lives didn't die in vain because of you. You avenged them. Don't let their deaths destroy you."

Xero sat up, but kept his hold on Tali. He sighed and looked off to the side, "I hurt Tali. Physical damaged I can handle, but..." he trailed off for a moment before speaking again, "He wasn't my brother anymore. What that creature was...was an abomination wearing his skin. John died fighting till his last breath, an honorable death for any Spartan."

He looked back at Tali, "I'm tired of fighting...tired of war and death. But I have to keep fighting, I will protect the innocent until the day I fall. And maybe, one day, maybe I can finally lay my guns down for good." he said with a smile.

"It sounds like a good future when that day comes." said Tali. Xero raised his hand and gently carressed the side of her visor, "I'm hoping to share that day. After all, behind every great man there's an even greater woman." he said smirking.

The Quarian woman's eyes widened, "Xero...what are you saying?" The Spartan squeezed her hand lightly, "I love you Tali. Since we've met I can't keep you out of my mind. Now...your all I think about. It was thoughts of you that kept me going on Feros, a reason to come back." His red eyes seemed to gleam over with an emotion that Tali couldn't place before he wrapped his arms around her small form and held her.

She wrapped her arms aound him, revealing in his larger form against hers. "X-Xero...I love you as well...You saved me in so many ways, you were there for me when I needed you. You...keelah...I can't even describe everything."

Xero chuckled, "Trust me, I feel the same Tali." After a few moments a thought hit the young Quarian, "Xero, what about...you know..." The Spartan realised what she was getting at, "Your suit." He smiled comfortingly, "Tali we'll figure everything out, I may be a soldier, but I am all yours no matter what."

Tali smacked his arm lightly, "Chivalry will get you nowhere." she said giggling. Xero smirked and gently squeezed the hand that was on her waist. Tali's eyes widened and she let out a moan. His other hand pressed into her back where her spine was and slowly slid down.

"W-What...are you...doing?" She said inbetween moans. "I think I should show you how serious I am about us." Xero said scooping her up and bringing her to the center of the bed. Tali felt as though her body was on fire.

Xero crawled next to her and pressed his hand onto her flat stomach, his other hand snaked under her body, his fingers kneeding into her back.

Tali squirmed, her breath coming out in pants as Xero massaged her through her suit. She felt his hand slide up her stomach and squeeze one of her breasts. Her eyes widened and she let out a loud moan. He switched to the other one and she started to lose it. "K-K-Keelah!...oh Keelah!..."

Her left hand gripped the bed sheets, her other hand gripped his shirt so tightly that she could hear the fabric tearing.

Xero leaned up and gently pressed his body down on her's, she immediately pressed into him feeling his warm skin and muscles through her suit. His hand that was fondling her breasts slowly slipped down, past her stomach...Her eyes widened even more and she let out a loud scream as she felt Xero's hand rubbing her core.

"X-Xero!...Oh Keelah Xero!...D-Don't S-Stop!" Xero smirked and removed his other hand from under her and started on her breasts again as he massaged through the material of her suit with a little more pressure.

Tali's mind was going blank, she had never felt anything like this before, it was like she was on fire. Xero had managed to press far enough into her suit and massage her sensitive skin. It felt wonderful.

All other thoughts vanished when she felt large pressure building in her lower abdomen. "Xero...I'm...gonna..." she let out a scream that was so loud it was a miracle that the whole crew didn't hear it. Xero felt warmth spread out between her legs under Tali's suit as she continued to buck into his hand.

After what felt like an eternity. Tali slowly came down from her high breathing heavily. "K-Keelah...that was..." she said with a sigh. Xero crawled up and laid down next to her, "How was your first orgasm beautiful?" he asked grinning.

Tali wrapped her arms around his neck and tangling her legs with his. "I swear, by Keelah I'll get out of this suit somehow." she said with a yawn. Xero chuckled and wrapped his arms around her form making her shudder a little.

"I came here with the intention on making you feel better." she said as sleep started to creep up on her. "And you did, I just payed you back." said Xero. In moment's Tali fell asleep. Xero leaned down and kissed the top of her visor. "Thank you Tali. I love you." he whispered.

Leaning back, the Spartan fell asleep with his Quarian girlfriend wrapped protectively in his arms.

X

Kat worked on the pelican extensively. Doing anything she could to stay busy, repairing, rewiring, or collecting data was the only thing to keep her from getting bored.

The sound of footfalls echoed behind her, she didn't have to turn to know who it was. Two taloned hands wrapped around her middle making her pause from the work she was doing. "Hay." said Garrus. Kat smirked, "Garrus."

"What are you doing?" asked the Turian. "The pelican took some damage back on Zhu's hope. If we want to use it again I have to fix it." replied Kat. Garrus clicked his mandables, "You need any help?" Kat looked over her shoulder, "What makes you think I need help fixing the ship?"

Garrus widened his mandables in a smirk, "I wasn't talking about the ship." he said nuzzling the back of her neck. Kat closed her eyes as she held his hands that were around her. "Maybe, I could use some help." she said enjoying the feeling.

"Oh?" said Garrus interested. She cast a glance with a smirk over her shoulder, "My armor's been giving me trouble. Can you help me remove it?" she whispered.

Garrus' eyes widened a fraction and his mandables clicked off his face. "Sure...just lead the way." he said lowly. She grabbed his hand with her cybernetic one and lead him into the back of the pelican. Onboard, she hit the switch that closed and locked the hatch.

Across the hanger, Emile and Wrex had watched the whole thing. "Knew it." said Emile. "There mating was inevitable. They were almost as obvious as Xero and the Quarian." grunted the warlord.

X

Soap looked over the needler before him. He had to admit, the armory was full of nice stuff. But he was having trouble in how to use them properly. Hense, why he was in the cargo hold to do a little target practice / experiments.

Picking up the weapon and aiming it at the target as if he would an SMG, he squeezed the trigger. A volley of glowing pink shards flew from the front and struck the target with almost perfect accuracy. The shard's shattered in a small explosion ripping the metal target where they hit.

"Damn. I think I might wanna try this in the field." he mumbled to himself. He set the needler back down on the table and picked up a plasma repeater. "Having fun?" Soap turned and saw Ashley approaching with a small smirk. "Yeah, thought I would test out the alien tech since we might be using it soon." said Soap standing behind the line and aiming the plasma weapon at a new target.

He pulled the trigger and plasma blasts flew out of the barrel in quick succesion. The recoil was strong, but he managed to keep it under control. When he was done, he popped the hatch on the gun and allowed it to cool down. The target was covered in black burns where the shots hit.

Ashley watched the display impressed, "Wow, I better try a few of these out." Soap motioned to the table covered with each kind of weapon in the armory. "Take your pick."

She approached the table and picked up the smallest weapon. "Plasma pistol." she said to herself. "Been doin your homework?" asked Soap with a chuckle. "Cortana gave me the run down on all the weaponry since I'm Gunnery Chief." said Ashley as she stepped up to the line.

The plasma pistol fired a few green rounds into the target before Ashley charged a shot and fired a bigger blast that scortched the bullseye. Soap nodded at the good display before picking up a spike rifle. "Your a damn good shot." he said firing off a few spikes into the target.

Ashley put down the plasma pistol and picked up the focus rifle. "Alliance runs in my veins. I was born a Marine, I'll die a Marine." she said aiming down the sights of the rifle and firing the beam that went straight through the target and burned the wall of the cargo hold.

Soap chuckled before leaning against a crate with an MRE in hand, "Feel the same way. My grandad was in the military, so was my old man." he said tearing into the freeze dried meal. Ashley put the weapon down and hopped up on the crate next to him with her own MRE.

"What was it like, fighting in your dimension?" she asked. Soap starred at the far wall blankly. "Ever since I joined the 141 I've seen a lot of horrible things. Fighting for country and the world when it was needed. Lost some good friends too." The thoughts of Gaz, Ghost and Roach all came to mind.

Ashley looked at Soap with a mixture of sorrow and understanding. "I lost good friends too. I lost my whole squad when Eden Prime was attacked. They were like family." Soap looked over at her and smiled, "Guess we're more alike than we like to admit." Ashley laughed lightly, "Guess so."

A silence flowed through the both of them. Ashley leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. So much had changed since the Eden Prime incident. Christ, they were on a large alien ship from another dimension, and more than half their crew was from different dimensions themselves. Everything felt so strange.

She felt something shift and opened her eyes to see Soap leaning over her, hands on both sides of her legs. "Something I can help you with?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. The ex-141 agent smirked, "I know what goes on in your head these days Ms. Williams."

Ashley smirked back before wrapping her arms around his neck, "Oh? And what is that?" she asked. "Somethings that would be against regulations." Soap said starting to grin. Ashley smiled back, "Considering all that has happened...forget the regs."

She leaned up and pressed her lips to his. Soap wrapped his arms around her and kissed back.

X

The _Normandy_ was quiet. Save for a few crew members that stayed behind to maintain the ship's systems. The rest were on the _Solace_ getting use to the new technology.

Shepard sat in the briefing room looking at a map of the galaxy. She had given her report to the council about what had occured on Zhu's Hope. They were horrified when they read the data and saw the recordings from their omni-tools. They immediately sent out a broadcast to all military factions about the Flood and to be on the look out if any more hives were to pop up.

She sighed, "At least the bastards took _that_ information to heart." "That's government for you." Shepard looked up and saw Jorge's large form intering the door frame. "How are you doing Jorge?" she asked the heavy Spartan. Jorge shrugged, "Much better. You'd be surprised how good you feel after lifting several hundred pounds." he said smirking.

"You Spartans truely are unique. The Alliance would give up every cred just for one of you." said Shepard. Jorge grinned, "We are unique, but it doesn't come without sacrifice." Shepard nodded, "Yeah...I'm sorry that all of you had to go through all of that."

Jorge gazed out the viewport at the stars. "When I was a kid training with the other Spartan IIs, I always wondered what the stars were like up close. After fighting the Covenant for so long...I just hope that we can find peace when there is no one left to fight."

The Commander looked at the man and could almost see the little kid with a bright future he once was. "I'm sorry...about John." she said quietly.

Jorge nodded and breathed out a sigh, "He died fighting Commander. He was a true hero, and he went out like one. Me and Jun couldn't be more proud to have known him and everything we did together. We overcame a lot when we were in the war."

The Commander nodded in understanding, "I know what that's like. A few years ago me and my squad joined a small battalion on a planet called Akuze. The problem was that it was a trap. We were on a Thresher Maw nest. Large blood thursty subterrainian creatures."

Shepard winced at the memory, "We fought for days. The Threshers wore us down, killing us off everyday. On the last day...I was the only one left. When I was picked up I had suffered burns from the creatures' acid."

She lifted up her shirt and showed a large patch of warped skin on her left side. "I was lucky, or so says the Alliance higher ups. I still have nightmares from those days. Seeing my squad and comrads die around me..."

Jorge reached out and held her hand, "I know the feeling. Believe me. All of us have things we want to forget, but it's those moments that truely define us. We're soldiers, Shepard, the galaxy relies on us to show them that it takes good people to stand for what's right and the sake of peace. But that shouldn't change who we are at heart."

Shepard smiled and squeezed his hand. Jorge was a walking tank, but she could tell that he had a good heart under all of that armor. A slight fluttering in her chest made he smile widen a little. Jorge smiled back.

X Xero's POV X

I entered the bridge shocking the rest of the crew. I couldn't blame them, considering I've been locked away for five days straight. "I take it your okay now?" asked Jorge. "Yeah, sorry to worry you guys." I replied.

Jorge smirked, "Just don't do it again. Or I'll go in and drag you out." I rolled my eyes, "Love to see you try big guy." I said walking around him. I saw Shepard looking at the large galaxy map in the center of the room in deep thought. "Any idea what our next heading is?" I asked standing next to her.

"We have to go to the Ciradel to resupply the _Normandy_. I think we'll have to seperate for a little while since we can't just pull this thing into Citadel space without causing an incident." she said in all honesty. "That's understandable. We'll head off and do a little recon to see if we can pick up on Saren's trail." I said looking through the map.

The door to the bridge opened and Garrus came in. The odd thing was that he was limping. "Garrus? You okay?" asked Shepard. The Turian shook his head and mumbled something about crazy strength. The door opened again and Kat came strolling in. She had a wide smile on her face and was lighter on her feet than usual.

"Kat?" I asked confused. "Hmm?" she asked back. "You...okay?" I asked. She smiled a little wider, "Never been better." she said walking off. As she walked by I took notice of what looked like healing puncture wounds on her neck.

"That was...odd." said Shepard. We heard Joker laughing his ass off from his spot next to Dana. I shook my head and turned back to the map when the door opened again. This time, Ashley and Soap walked in, both wearing grins.

"What's up with you guys?" asked Jorge. Neither one of them spoke, but Shepard made an observation. "Ash...what's that on your neck?" The Gunnery Chief's grin vanished and she quickly placed a hand over the spot she spoke of, "Nothing Skipper!" she said before spinning around heading for the armory.

Price walked up to Soap and patted him on the shoulder, "Good for you mate." he said smirking.

I looked at Shepard, "Just what the hell have I missed since I've been away?"

**A/N: Xero and Tali are together. And I decided to keep the Kat/Garrus and Soap/Ashley couples while trying to build something between Jorge and Shepard. If there are any other couple ideas you guys may have let me know and I'll see if I can add it in. **


End file.
